Combined Ab Initio, Kinetic Modeling, and Shock Tube Study of the Thermal Decomposition of Ethyl Formate

The potential energy surfaces (PESs) and reaction rate constants of the unimolecular decomposition of ethyl formate (EF) were investigated using high-precision theoretical methods at the CCSD(T)/CBS(T-Q)//M06-2X/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory. The calculated PESs of EF dissociation and molecular decomposition reactions indicate that the intramolecular H-shift to produce formic acid and ethylene is the dominant decomposition pathway. A detailed chemical kinetic mechanism for EF pyrolysis was constructed by incorporating the important reactions of EF and its radicals into an existing mechanism previously developed for small methyl esters. The updated mechanism was first used to reproduce CO, CO2, and H2O concentration time histories during EF pyrolysis in the shock tube reported by Ren et al. [ Ren , W. , Mitchell Spearrin , R. , Davidson , D. F. , and Hanson , R. K. J. Phys. Chem. A 2014 , 118 , 1785 - 1798 ]. The rate of production and sensitivity analyses show that the competing dehydration and decarboxylation channels of the intermediate formic acid control the final product yields of EF pyrolysis. The EF mechanism was further validated against the shock tube data of OH, CO, CO2, and H2O time histories measured during EF oxidation (equivalence ratio Φ = 1.0) at 1331-1615 K and 1.52-1.74 atm. This revised EF mechanism captured all of the species' time histories over the entire temperature range. Such modeling capability was due to the more accurate rate constants of EF reactions determined by high-precision theoretical calculations and a high-fidelity C0-C2 basis mechanism.