http://arxiv.org/abs/1705.09235
This study focuses on the formation of two molecules of astrobiological importance – glycolaldehyde (HC(O)CH2OH) and ethylene glycol (H2C(OH)CH2OH) – by surface hydrogenation of CO molecules. Our experiments aim at simulating the CO freeze-out stage in interstellar dark cloud regions, well before thermal and energetic processing become dominant. It is shown that along with the formation of H2CO and CH3OH – two well established products of CO hydrogenation – also molecules with more than one carbon atom form. The key step in this process is believed to be the recombination of two HCO radicals followed by the formation of a C-C bond. The experimentally established reaction pathways are implemented into a continuous-time random-walk Monte Carlo model, previously used to model the formation of CH3OH on astrochemical time-scales, to study their impact on the solid-state abundances in dense interstellar clouds of glycolaldehyde and ethylene glycol.
G. Fedoseev, H. Cuppen, S. Ioppolo, et. al.
Fri, 26 May 17
-38/63
Comments: N/A