The Dissociative Recombination of Protonated Acrylonitrile, CH2CHCNH+, with implications for the Nitrile Chemistry in Dark Molecular Clouds and the Upper Atmosphere of Titan

• Measurements on the dissociative recombination (DR) of protonated acrylonitrile, CH2CHCNH+, have been performed at the heavy ion storage ring CRYRING located in the Manne Siegbahn Laboratory in Stockholm, Sweden. It has been found that at similar to 2meV relative kinetic energy about 50% of the DR events involve only ruptures of X-Hbonds (where X = C or N) while the rest leads to the production of a pair of fragments each containing two heavy atoms (alongside H and/or H-2). The absolute DR cross section has been investigated for relative kinetic energies ranging from similar to 1 meV to 1 eV. The thermal rate coefficient has been determined to follow the expression k(T) = 1.78 x 10(-6) (T/300)(-0.80) cm(3) s(-1) for electron temperatures ranging from similar to 10 to 1000 K. Gas-phase models of the nitrile chemistry in the dark molecular cloud TMC-1 have been run and results are compared with observations. Also, implications of the present results for the nitrile chemistry of Titan's upper atmosphere are discussed.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Atom- och molekylfysik och optik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics (hsv//eng)

Keyword

ISM: clouds

ISM: molecules

methods: laboratory

molecular processes

Chemical physics

Kemisk fysik

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)