Encounter complex and transition state searches for the halogen dance reaction

CHED 569

Bryce A. Suchy, soochman02@gmail.com and Jeffrey E. Elbert, Jeffrey.Elbert@uni.edu. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Northern Iowa, MSH 243, 0423, Cedar Falls, IA 50614
In a mechanism called the Halogen Dance, bromonitrosulfolene undergoes a rearrangement and disproportionation under unusually mild conditions when dissolved in DMSO. In our computational studies, we have investigated the first and second steps of the reaction, where the DMSO removes the bromine and ionizes the nitrosulfolene. With a series of gas phase calculations we have focused on finding the transition state for the reaction as well as attempted to find encounter complexes that will serve as starting points for transition state searches by modifying the bond distances, angles, and approach vectors of the DMSO-bromonitrosulfolene complex. The results of these investigations will be presented and discussed.