A combined experimental and theoretical study on the formation of interstellar C3H isomers.
The reaction of ground-state carbon atoms with acetylene was studied under single-collision conditions in crossed beam experiments to investigate the chemical dynamics of forming cyclic and linear C3H isomers (c-C3H and l-C3H, respectively) in interstellar environments via an atom-neutral reaction. Combined state-of-the-art ab initio calculations and experimental identification of the carbon-hydrogen exchange channel to both isomers classify this reaction as an important alternative to ion-molecule encounters to synthesize C3H radicals in the interstellar medium. These findings strongly correlate with astronomical observations and explain a higher [c-C3H]/[l-C3H] ratio in the dark cloud TMC-1 than in the carbon star IRC+10216.
Kaiser
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Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Ochsenfeld
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Head-Gordon
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Lee
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YT
Suits
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D000114:Acetylene / Q000737:chemistry; D055580:Astronomical Phenomena; D001256:Astronomy; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D019443:Cosmic Dust; D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000737:chemistry*; D006859:Hydrogen / Q000737:chemistry*; D007536:Isomerism
D019443:Cosmic Dust; D006838:Hydrocarbons; D002244:Carbon; D006859:Hydrogen; D000114:Acetylene