Hydrogen Reactions and IR Spectroscopy of Molecules of Astrophysical Interest in Para-Hydrogen Matrices

Prasad Ramesh Joshi, Yuan Pern Lee*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Solid para-hydrogen (p-H2) has been demonstrated to be an excellent matrix host for studying reactions involving H atoms at low temperature, especially in darkness. We first briefly reviewed our previous work on the reactions of astrochemical species with hydrogen atoms in solid p-H2 at 3.2 K. This includes methanol, methyl formate, formamide, acetamide, acetic acid, and glycine. The previously overlooked H-abstraction reactions occurred in all cases. We then present preliminary results of the reaction of H atoms with methylamine CH3NH2. We observed IR spectra of •CH2NH2 and CH2NH upon irradiation and when the matrix was maintained in darkness. Experiments on CD3NH2 produced, in addition to •CD2NH2 and CD2NH, CHD2NH2, confirming the occurrence of H addition to •CD2NH2. The observed mechanism containing two consecutive H-abstraction and two H-addition steps chemically connects CH3NH2 and CH2NH so that they might reach quasi-equilibrium. In addition, the observed infrared spectra can be useful to analyze observations from ground-based telescopes and James Webb Space Telescope.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationEuropean Conference on Laboratory Astrophysics ECLA2020 - The Interplay of Dust, Ice, and Gas in Space
EditorsVito Mennella, Christine Joblin
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media B.V.
Pages169-175
Number of pages7
ISBN (Print)9783031290022
DOIs
StatePublished - 2023
EventEuropean Conference on Laboratory Astrophysics, ECLA 2020 - Anacapri, Italy
Duration: 26 Sep 20211 Oct 2021

Publication series

NameAstrophysics and Space Science Proceedings
Volume59
ISSN (Print)1570-6591
ISSN (Electronic)1570-6605

Conference

ConferenceEuropean Conference on Laboratory Astrophysics, ECLA 2020
Country/TerritoryItaly
CityAnacapri
Period26/09/211/10/21

Keywords

  • Hydrogen reaction
  • Methyl amine
  • Para-hydrogen

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Hydrogen Reactions and IR Spectroscopy of Molecules of Astrophysical Interest in Para-Hydrogen Matrices'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this