Recent Spitzer Space Telescope observations of several astrophysical environments such as Planetary Nebulae, Reflection Nebulae, and R Coronae Borealis stars show the simultaneous presence of mid-infrared features attributed to neutral fullerene molecules (i.e., C60) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). If C60 fullerenes and PAHs coexist in fullerene-rich space environments, then C60 may easily form adducts with a number of different PAH molecules; at least with catacondensed PAHs. Here we present the laboratory infrared spectra (~2-25 um) of C60 fullerene and anthracene Dies-Alder mono- and bis-adducts as produced by sonochemical synthesis. We find that C60/anthracene Diels-Alder adducts display spectral features strikingly similar to those from C60 (and C70) fullerenes and other unidentified infrared emission features. Thus, fullerene-adducts - if formed under astrophysical conditions and stable/abundant enough - may contribute to the infrared emission features observed in fullerene-containing circumstellar/interstellar environments.
@article{arxiv.1306.2121,
title = {Infrared spectroscopy of fullerene C60/anthracene adducts},
author = {D. A. Garcia-Hernandez and F. Cataldo and A. Manchado},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1306.2121},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
Accepted for publication in MNRAS (9 pages and 8 figures)