Laboratory Synthesis of Alcohols and Formic Acid from CO in Astrophysical Ice Analogues: Support for Molecular Formation in the Solid Phase

Details Laboratory Synthesis of Alcohols and Formic Acid from CO in Astrophysical Ice Analogues: Support for Molecular Formation in the Solid Phase Laboratory Synthesis of Alcohols and Formic Acid from CO in Astrophysical Ice Analogues: Support for Molecular Formation in the Solid Phase

Sep 1998

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1998baas...30.1091h&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #30, #40.P15; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 30, p.1091

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

1

Scientific paper

It is now recognized that gas-phase chemistry alone is insufficient to account for the abundances of many interstellar molecules. Low-temperature reactions in the solid state, on interstellar grains or in ice mantles, are likely candidates for molecular formation. Recently we have studied the reactions of hydrocarbons and H atoms in interstellar and cometary ice analogues (Icarus, 1997,126, 233). Frozen hydrocarbon+H_2O mixtures were exposed to ionizing radiation near 15 K, and IR spectra of these ices were measured. We found that H-atom addition to acetylene (C_2H_2) occurred, forming ethylene (C_2H_4) and ethane (C_2H_6), and that H- and OH-addition produced acetaldehyde (CH_3C(O)H) and ethanol (C_2H_5OH): \begin{center} C_2H_2 -> C_2H_4 and CH_3C(O)H -> C_2H_6 and C_2H_5OH We recently have extended these experiments to CO, an abundant interstellar and cometary molecule. Our experiments show that irradiation of CO+H_2O ices reduces CO to CH_3OH (methanol), presumably by H- and OH-addition reactions. Formic acid (HCOOH) and formaldehyde (H_2CO) were observed during these experiments, and appear to be intermediates along the reaction path from CO to CH_3OH: \begin{center} CO -> H_2CO and HCOOH -> CH_3OH In separate experiments we have confirmed that radiation reduces C_2H_4 and CH_3C(O)H to C_2H_5OH, and HCOOH and H_2CO to CH_3OH. Estimates of product abundances have been made. We conclude that solid-phase H- and OH-addition reactions can contribute to many of the molecules observed in comets and interstellar objects.

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