title: Effects of a Single Water Molecule on the Reaction Barrier of Interstellar CO2 Formation Reaction.
abstract: The mechanism by which CO2 is formed in the interstellar space remains a mystery. The most likely reaction is collision between CO and OH; however, previous theoretical works have shown that the activation barrier for CO2 formation is high enough to prevent the reaction at the low thermal conditions of space (∼10 K). The effects of single water molecule on the reaction barrier of CO2 formation from reaction between CO and OH have been investigated here by means of ab initio calculation. The barrier height along the lowest-energy pathway in the reaction between CO and OH in the absence of the H2O molecule was calculated to be 2.3 kcal/mol when CCSD(T) energy corrections are combined with the MP2 basis set limit. In the case of the hydrated (H2O-CO-OH) system, the inclusion of a single H2O molecule into the system significantly decreased the barrier height to 0.2 kcal/mol. This suggests that CO2 can be formed when CO and OH react in the presence of H2O, even under thermal conditions as low as 10 K.
authors.affiliation: Division of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University , Sapporo 060-8628, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroto
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tachikawa
authors.affiliation: Division of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University , Sapporo 060-8628, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kawabata