THERMAL RATE CONSTANTS OF MULTIMODE SYSTEMS FOR THE PRICE OF ONE - AZIRIDINE

An accurate and highly efficient method for calculating thermal rate constants in the automerization reaction of aziridine is presented. Theoretical results are in good agreement with available experimental data obtained by Borchardt and Bauer. The kinetics of aziridine inversion involve strong coupling of the reaction coordinate with other internal modes. Therefore, it is expected that in order to account for the energy redistribution processes in aziridine, the multi-mode Schrodinger equation should be solved. We show, however, that accurate rate constants for this system can be obtained by performing only one- (or two-) dimensional calculations. The key point in our approach is the insertion of absorbing boundary conditions in the products region of the potential surface, which prevent reflections from the products well to the reactants well, and thereby replace the role of the ''neglected'' internal modes in the dynamics.