Automated reaction mechanism generation : improving accuracy and broadening scope

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, 2012.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 169-186).Chemical kinetic modeling plays an important role in the study of reactive chemical systems. Thus, an automated means of constructing chemical kinetic models forms a useful tool in the engineering and science surrounding such systems. This document describes work to further develop one such tool, known as RMG (Reaction Mechanism Generator). Focus is placed on improving the accuracy of parameter estimation in the mechanism generation process and expanding the scope of applicability of the tool. In particular, effort has targeted the generation and use of explicit three-dimensional molecular structures for chemical species considered during reaction mechanism generation. This work has resulted in the generation of a software system integrated with RMG that can automatically generate and use such structures with quantum chemistry or force field codes to obtain more reliable thermochemistry estimates for cyclic structures without human intervention. Ultimately, the result of these updates is improved usefulness and reliability of the software system as a predictive tool. An application of the tool to the high temperature oxidation of JP-10, a jet fuel often used in military applications, is described. Using the newly refined RMG system, a detailed chemical kinetic model was constructed for this system. The resulting model represents a significant improvement upon existing work for JP- 10 oxidation by capturing detailed chemistry for this system. Simulations with this model have been found to produce results for ignition delay and product distribution that compare favorably with experimental results. The successful application of the refined RMG software system to this system demonstrates the practical utility of these updates.by Gregory Russell Magoon.Ph.D

Discovery of Western European R1b1a2 Y Chromosome Variants in 1000 Genomes Project Data: An Online Community Approach

The authors have used an online community approach, and tools that were readily available via the Internet, to discover genealogically and therefore phylogenetically relevant Y-chromosome polymorphisms within core haplogroup R1b1a2-L11/S127 (rs9786076). Presented here is the analysis of 135 unrelated L11 derived samples from the 1000 Genomes Project. We were able to discover new variants and build a much more complex phylogenetic relationship for L11 sub-clades. Many of the variants were further validated using PCR amplification and Sanger sequencing. The identification of these new variants will help further the understanding of population history including patrilineal migrations in Western and Central Europe where R1b1a2 is the most frequent haplogroup. The fine-grained phylogenetic tree we present here will also help to refine historical genetic dating studies. Our findings demonstrate the power of citizen science for analysis of whole genome sequence data

Design and implementation of a next-generation software interface for on-the-fly quantum and force field calculations in automated reaction mechanism generation

A software interface for performing on-the-fly quantum and force field calculations has been developed and integrated into RMG, an open-source reaction mechanism generation software package, to provide needed estimates of thermodynamic parameters. These estimates based on three-dimensional molecular geometries bypasses the traditional group-additivity-based approach, which can suffer from lack of availability of necessary parameters; this issue is particularly evident for polycyclic species with fused rings, which would require ad hoc ring corrections in the group-additivity framework. In addition to making extensive use of open-source tools, the interface takes advantage of recent developments from several fields, including three-dimensional geometry embedding, force fields, and chemical structure representation, along with enhanced robustness of quantum chemistry codes. The effectiveness of the new approach is demonstrated for a computer-constructed model of combustion of the synthetic jet fuel JP-10. The interface also establishes a framework for future improvements in the chemical fidelity of computer-generated kinetic models.United States. Dept. of Energy. Office of Basic Energy Sciences (Grant DE-FG02-98ER14914)Naval Air Warfare Center (U.S.) (Contract N68335-10-C-0534

Experimental and modeling study of thermal decomposition of exotetrahydrocyclopentadiene rodicyclopentadiene

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Database of Small Molecule Thermochemistry for Combustion

High-accuracy ab initio thermochemistry is presented for 219 small molecules relevant in combustion chemistry, including many radical, biradical, and triplet species. These values are critical for accurate kinetic modeling. The RQCISD­(T)/cc-PV∞QZ//B3LYP/6-311++G­(d,p) method was used to compute the electronic energies. A bond additivity correction for this method has been developed to remove systematic errors in the enthalpy calculations, using the Active Thermochemical Tables as reference values. On the basis of comparison with the benchmark data, the 3σ uncertainty in the standard-state heat of formation is 0.9 kcal/mol, or within chemical accuracy. An uncertainty analysis is presented for the entropy and heat capacity. In many cases, the present values are the most accurate and comprehensive numbers available. The present work is compared to several published databases. In some cases, there are large discrepancies and errors in published databases; the present work helps to resolve these problems

Experimental and modeling study of thermal decomposition of exo- tetrahydrodicyclopentadiene

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