Related papers: Atom addition reactions in interstellar ice analog…
Methanol is the most complex molecule securely identified in interstellar ices and is a key chemical species for understanding chemical complexity in astrophysical environments. Important aspects of the methanol ice photochemistry are still…
A number of recent experimental studies have shown that solid-state complex organic molecules (COMs) can form under conditions that are relevant to the CO freeze-out stage in dense clouds. In this work, we show that alcohols can be formed…
A brief introduction and overview of the astrochemistry of dust, ice and gas and their interplay is presented, aimed at non-specialists. The importance of basic chemical physics studies of critical reactions is illustrated through a number…
Even though water is the main constituent in interstellar icy mantles, its chemical origin is not well understood. Three different formation routes have been proposed following hydrogenation of O, O2, or O3, but experimental evidence is…
The first computational model of solid-phase chemistry in cometary nuclear ices is presented. An astrochemical kinetics model, MAGICKAL, is adapted to trace the chemical evolution in multiple layers of cometary ice, over a representative…
The reactions of cold H atoms with solid O2 molecules were investigated at 10 K. The formation of H2O2 and H2O has been confirmed by in-situ infrared spectroscopy. We found that the reaction proceeds very efficiently and obtained the…
Gas-phase chemistry at extreme conditions (low densities and temperatures) is difficult, so the presence of interstellar grains is especially important for the synthesis of molecules that cannot form in the gas phase. Interstellar grains…
Molecular hydrogen has an important role in the early stages of star formation as well as in the production of many other molecules that have been detected in the interstellar medium. In this review we show that it is now possible to study…
Methane is one of the simplest stable molecules that is both abundant and widely distributed across space. It is thought to have partial origin from interstellar molecular clouds, which are near the beginning of the star formation cycle.…
Sulfur is the tenth most abundant element in the universe and is known to play a significant role in biological systems. Accordingly, in recent years there has been increased interest in the role of sulfur in astrochemical reactions and…
The results of experiments on the formation of molecular hydrogen on low density and high density amorphous ice surfaces are analyzed using a rate equation model. The activation energy barriers for the relevant diffusion and desorption…
We present experimental constraints on the insertion of oxygen atoms into methane to form methanol in astrophysical ice analogs. In gas-phase and theoretical studies this process has previously been demonstrated to have a very low or…
Icy grain mantles are commonly observed through infrared spectroscopy toward dense clouds, cloud cores, protostellar envelopes and protoplanetary disks. Up to 80% of the available oxygen, carbon and nitrogen are found in such ices; the most…
Complex organic molecules (COMs) have been observed not only in the hot cores surrounding low- and high- mass protostars, but also in cold dark clouds. Therefore, it is interesting to understand how such species can be formed without the…
HCN is a molecule central to interstellar chemistry, since it is the simplest molecule containing a carbon-nitrogen bond and its solid state chemistry is rich. The aim of this work was to study the NH3 + HCN -> NH4+CN- thermal reaction in…
The recent discovery of terrestrial-type organic species such as methyl formate and dimethyl ether in the cold interstellar gas has proved that the formation of organic matter in the Galaxy begins at a much earlier stage of star formation…
Methanol and its precursor formaldehyde are among the most studied organic molecules in the interstellar medium and are abundant in the gaseous and solid phases. We recently developed a model to simulate CO hydrogenation via H atoms on…
Water ice is abundant both astrophysically, for example in molecular clouds, and in planetary systems. The Kuiper belt objects, many satellites of the outer solar system, the nuclei of comets and some planetary rings are all known to be…
Hydrogen, being the most abundant element, is the driver of many if not most reactions occurring on interstellar dust grains. In hydrogen atom addition reactions, the rate is usually determined by the surface kinetics of the hydrogen atom…
Context: Hydrogenation reactions are expected to be among the most important surface reactions on interstellar ices. However, solid state astrochemical laboratory data on reactions of H-atoms with common interstellar ice constituents are…