The Rate of the Reaction between C2H and C2H2 at Interstellar Temperatures

The reaction between the radical C2H and the stable hydrocarbon C2H2 is one of the simplest neutral-neutral hydrocarbon reactions in chemical models of dense interstellar clouds and carbon-rich circumstellar shells. Although known to be rapid at temperatures > or = 300 K, the reaction has yet to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Astrophysical journal Vol. 489; no. 1; pp. 109 - 112
Main Authors Herbst, Eric, Woon, David E
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Ames Research Center IOP Publishing 01.11.1997
Subjects
Acetylene - chemistry
Astronomy - methods
Carbon - chemistry
Computer Simulation
Exobiology
Extraterrestrial Environment
Free Radicals - chemistry
Hydrocarbons - chemistry
Mathematics
Models, Chemical
Models, Molecular
Software
Space life sciences
Temperature
Thermodynamics
Non-Nasa Center
Nasa Discipline Exobiology
NASA Discipline Exobiology
Non-NASA Center
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Summary:The reaction between the radical C2H and the stable hydrocarbon C2H2 is one of the simplest neutral-neutral hydrocarbon reactions in chemical models of dense interstellar clouds and carbon-rich circumstellar shells. Although known to be rapid at temperatures > or = 300 K, the reaction has yet to be studied at lower temperatures. We present here ab initio calculations of the potential surface for this reaction and dynamical calculations to determine its rate at low temperature. Despite a small potential barrier in the exit channel, the calculated rate is large, showing that this reaction and, most probably, more complex analogs contribute to the formation of complex organic molecules in low-temperature sources.
Bibliography:ARC
Ames Research Center
ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.1086/304786