Ab initio calculations of the reaction of ground-state atomic oxygen [O(P-3)] with an allyl radical (C3H5) have been carried out using the density functional method and the complete basis set model. On the calculated lowest doublet potential energy surface, the barrierless association of O(P-3) to C3H5 forms three energy-rich addition intermediates, which are predicted to undergo subsequent isomerization and decomposition steps leading to various products: C3H4O+H, CH2O+C2H3, C2H4+CHO, C2H2O+CH3, C2H5+CO, C3H4+OH, and C2H4O+CH. The respective reaction mechanisms through the three addition intermediates are presented, and it has been found that the barrier height, reaction enthalpy, and the number of intermediates involved along the reaction coordinate are of extreme importance in understanding such reactive scattering processes. With the aid of Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus calculations, the major reaction pathway is predicted to be the formation of acrolein (C3H4O)+H, which is consistent with the previous gas-phase bulk kinetic experiment performed by Gutman [J. Phys. Chem. 94, 3652 (1990)]. For the minor C3H4+OH channel, which has been newly found in the recent crossed beam investigations, a second barrierless, direct H-atom abstraction from the central carbon of C3H5 is calculated to compete with the addition process due to the little C-H bond dissociation energy and the formation of a stable allene product. The dynamic and kinetic characteristics of the reaction mechanism are discussed on the basis of the comparison of prior statistical calculations to the nascent internal distributions of the observed OH product. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.