Reactions between cold methyl halide molecules and alkali-metal atoms

Abstract: We investigate the potential energy surfaces and activation energies for reactions between methyl halide molecules CH${3}X$ ($X$ = F, Cl, Br, I) and alkali-metal atoms $A$ ($A$ = Li, Na, K, Rb) using high-level {\it ab initio} calculations. We examine the anisotropy of each intermolecular potential energy surface (PES) and the mechanism and energetics of the only available exothermic reaction pathway, ${\rm CH}{3}X+A\rightarrow{\rm CH}_{3}+AX$. The region of the transition state is explored using two-dimensional PES cuts and estimates of the activation energies are inferred. Nearly all combinations of methyl halide and alkali-metal atom have positive barrier heights, indicating that reactions at low temperatures will be slow.