Ab initio and RRKM calculations of o-benzyne pyrolysis

Recently, a new mechanism has been provided in the phenyl pyrolysis, that is, the phenyl dissociation favours the benzyne channel by losing an H atom [H. Wang, M. Frenklach, J. Phys. Chem., 98 (1994) 11465]. In this Letter, the dissociation of o-benzyne has been investigated by means of ab initio theory. The geometries and structures of o-benzyne with its pyrolysis products C4H2, C2H2 and also the transition state were optimized at the UHF/6-31G* level. The single point energies were refined by B3LYP/6-31G* calculations. The unimolecular rate constants for o-benzyne pyrolysis in different pressures were calculated by the Rice–Ramsperger–Kassel–Marcus (RRKM) method.