Journal of Physical Chemistry A, Vol.109, No.12, 2875-2877, 2005
Computational study of the Stone-Wales transformation in C-36
The transition of the D-6h, neutral and charged isomers to D-2d isomers Of C-36 via Stone-Wales transformation has been studied by means of the hybrid density functional method (B3LYP). The results show that the transition state (TS) and reaction pathway could be identified for the rearrangement from C-36-D-6h to C-36-D-2d on the potential energy surface. We found that the neutral and charged transition states all have C-2 molecular point group symmetry with the two migrating carbon atoms remaining close to the fullerene surface. The other kind of possible TS with a carbene-like structure along the stepwise reaction path does not exist as a stationary point with the density functionals utilized here. The classical barriers are 6.23 eV through the neutral TS, 6.37 eV through the anionic TS, and 6.29 eV through the cationic TS at the B3LYP/6-31 G level of theory.