Low Temperature Formation of Nitrogen-substituted Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PANHs)- Barrierless Routes to Dihydro(iso)quinolines
Dorian S. N. Parker, Tao Yang, Beni B. Dangi, Ralf. I. Kaiser, Partha P. Bera, and Timothy J. Lee
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 815, Number 2
Published 2015 December 16
“Meteorites contain bio-relevant molecules such as vitamins and nucleobases, which consist of aromatic structures with embedded nitrogen atoms. Questions remain over the chemical mechanisms responsible for the formation of nitrogen-substituted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PANHs) in extraterrestrial environments. By exploiting single collision conditions, we show that a radical mediated bimolecular collision between pyridyl radicals and 1,3-butadiene in the gas phase forms nitrogen-substituted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PANHs) 1,4-dihydroquinoline and to a minor amount 1,4-dihydroisoquinoline. The reaction proceeds through the formation of a van der Waals complex, which circumnavigates the entrance barrier implying it can operate at very low kinetic energy and therefore at low temperatures of 10 K as present in cold molecular clouds such as TMC-1. The discovery of facile de facto barrierless exoergic reaction mechanisms leading to PANH formation could play an important role in providing a population of aromatic structures upon which further photo-processing of ice condensates could occur to form nucleobases.”
