Ab inito Study on the Isomerization Reaction of Nitroguanidine

Theoretical studies on the α- and β-forms nitroguanidine were carried out using ab initio theoretical methods, at the MP2/6-31G(d,p) level. The predicted geometrical parameters were in good agreement with the available theoretical values, which calculated by other author. The three C-N bond lengths in α-form nitroguanidine were different, the longest bond length was 1.430 A, the shortest was 1.283 A. But they were almost similar in β-form, the longest was 1.375 A, the shortest was 1.322 A. Therefore there were conjugative effects in β-form but not in α-form. The calculated results also show that the β-form is stable with respect to the α-form from energetically, lower 28.16 kJ/mol corrected with zero point vibrational energy. The transition-state for the unimolecular isomerization was conformed by the IRC calculation. The calculated energy barrier for the direct intramolecular hydrogen atom transfer isomerization process was 132.95 kJ/mol. The isomerization reaction, exothermal reaction, is a typical intramolecular hydrogen atom synfacial transfer reaction. Rate constants of the isomerization reaction were evaluated within the temperature range of 200-1773 K by the classical transition state theory. The rate constant was 1.99×10-11 s-1 and the equilibrium constant was 1.00×105 at 298 K. With the temperature increasing, the equilibrium value decayed and the reaction process was more difficult.