Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Nov 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011apj...741..121w&link_type=abstract
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 741, Issue 2, article id. 121 (2011).
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Astrochemistry, Ism: Clouds, Ism: Molecules
Scientific paper
Laboratory experiments show that the thermal heterogeneous reactions of oxygen atoms may contribute to the synthesis of epoxides in interstellar clouds. The data set also indicates that the contribution of these pathways to epoxide formation, in comparison to non-thermal routes, is likely to be strongly temperature dependent. Our results indicate that an increased abundance of epoxides, relative to the corresponding aldehydes, could be an observational signature of a significant contribution to molecular oxidation via thermal O atom reactions with alkenes. Specifically surface science experiments show that both C2H4O and C3H6O are readily formed from reactions of ethene and propene molecules with thermalized oxygen atoms at temperatures in the range of 12-90 K. It is clear from our experiments that these reactions, on a graphite surface, proceed with significantly reduced reaction barriers compared with those operating in the gas phase. For both the C2H4 + O and the C3H6 + O reactions, the surface reaction barriers we determine are reduced by approximately an order of magnitude compared with the barriers in the gas phase. The modeling of our experimental results, which determines these reaction barriers, also extracts desorption energies and rate coefficients for the title reactions. Our results clearly show that the major product from the O + C2H4 reaction is ethylene oxide, an epoxide.
Price Stephen D.
Ward Michael D.
No associations
LandOfFree
Thermal Reactions of Oxygen Atoms with Alkenes at Low Temperatures on Interstellar Dust does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Thermal Reactions of Oxygen Atoms with Alkenes at Low Temperatures on Interstellar Dust, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Thermal Reactions of Oxygen Atoms with Alkenes at Low Temperatures on Interstellar Dust will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-980479