Theoretical investigation of the mechanisms of reactions of H₂CN and H₂SiN with NO

The mechanisms of the reaction of H₂XN (X = C, Si) with NO were studied at the level CCSD(T)/aug-cc-PVTZ//B3LYP/6-31++G(d,p). The results indicate that there are two most favorable reaction pathways in the reaction H₂CN + NO that have similar energy barriers; these two pathways lead to the formation of HCN + HNO (PI) and H₂CO + N₂ (P3), with the calculated barriers 11.1 and 10.2 kcal/mol, respectively, with respect to the reactants (H₂CN + NO). In the reaction H₂SiN + NO the difference of the barriers in these two analogous pathways becomes large, and the preferable pathway shifts to the production of H₂SiO + N ₂ (P3s), which has no barrier with respect to the reactants (H ₂SiN + NO). A direct reduction of NO into a stable and nontoxic nitrogen molecule with no energy input becomes possible. As a consequence, H2SiN might be an effective reagent to convert the reactive and toxic NO into a benign gas N₂ in several NO-producing combustion systems. We offer a possible explanation of the differences between H₂CN and H ₂SiN toward NO as well as the calculated potential energies for these reactions.