TG-FTIR, DSC and quantum chemical studies of the thermal decomposition of quaternary methylammonium halides

The thermal decomposition of quaternary methylammonium halides was studied using thermogravimetry coupled to FTIR (TG-FTIR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) as well as the DFT, MP2 and G2 quantum chemical methods. There is almost perfect agreement between the experimental IR spectra and those predicted at the B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) level: this has demonstrated for the first time that an equimolar mixture of trimethylamine and a methyl halide is produced as a result of decomposition. The experimental enthalpies of dissociation are 153.4, 171.2, and 186.7 kJ/mol for chloride, bromide and iodide, respectively, values that correlate well with the calculated enthalpies of dissociation based on crystal lattice energies and quantum chemical thermodynamic barriers. The experimental activation barriers estimated from the least-squares fit of the F1 kinetic model (first-order process) to thermogravimetric traces - 283, 244 and 204 kJ/mol for chloride, bromide and iodide, respectively - agree very well with theoretically calculated values. The theoretical approach assumed in this work has been shown capable of predicting the relevant characteristics of the thermal decomposition of solids with experimental accuracy.