Quantum chemical study of the reaction mechanism of ozone and methane with fluorine and chlorine atoms

Ab initio calculations of the potential energy surface for the F + O₃ and Cl + O₃ reactions have been performed using the G3 and G3MP2 methods, which optimize the geometry configuration of reactants, products, intermediates, and transition states. The results show that fluorine atoms react with ozone as violently as chlorine atoms. At the same time, we have studied the reaction mechanisms of F atoms and Cl atoms with methane. It is found that fluorine atoms prefer to react with methane and chlorine atoms with ozone when there is competition between ozone and methane. Therefore, we can reasonably explain why chlorine atoms play the main role of reactants depleting ozone, while the more active fluorine atoms deplete less ozone.