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A valence bond study of the activation of methyl halides bonds by electric fields

Abstract:

In the present work, the activation of methyl halides bonds under experience of an external electric field (EEF) is explained from the Valence Bond theory perspective. The dissociation mechanism of C-X bonds (X = Cl, Br, I) influenced by a homogeneous and a heterogeneous field placed parallel to the bond axis is presented. For all examples, an increase in the electric field strength have similar consequences: (i) the decrease of the energy depth along the dissociation path, (ii) an increase of the equilibrium interatomic distance (at high EEFs), and (iii) the transition from a homolytic to a heterolytic dissociation after some field magnitude. These general behaviors are explained through the curve crossing between the ionic and the covalent structure at some field strength.