THE C({sup 3}P) + NH{sub 3} REACTION IN INTERSTELLAR CHEMISTRY. I. INVESTIGATION OF THE PRODUCT FORMATION CHANNELS

Journal Article · Tue Oct 20 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/812/2/106· OSTI ID:22518794

Bourgalais, Jérémy; Capron, Michael; Picard, Sébastien D. Le ^[1]; Kailasanathan, Ranjith Kumar Abhinavam; Goulay, Fabien ^[2]; Osborn, David L. ^[3]; Hickson, Kevin M.; Loison, Jean-Christophe ^[4]; Wakelam, Valentine ^[5]

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1. Institut de Physique de Rennes, Astrophysique de Laboratoire, UMR CNRS 6251, Université de Rennes 1, Bât. 11C, Campus de Beaulieu, F-35042 Rennes Cedex (France)
2. Department of Chemistry, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506 (United States)
3. Combustion Research Facility, Mail Stop 9055, Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA 94551 (United States)
4. Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Sciences Moléculaires, UMR 5255, F-33400 Talence (France)
5. Univ. Bordeaux, LAB, UMR 5804, F-33270 Floirac (France)

The product formation channels of ground state carbon atoms, C({sup 3}P), reacting with ammonia, NH{sub 3}, have been investigated using two complementary experiments and electronic structure calculations. Reaction products are detected in a gas flow tube experiment (330 K, 4 Torr) using tunable vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) photoionization coupled with time of flight mass spectrometry. Temporal profiles of the species formed and photoionization spectra are used to identify primary products of the C + NH{sub 3} reaction. In addition, H-atom formation is monitored by VUV laser induced fluorescence (LIF) from room temperature to 50 K in a supersonic gas flow generated by the Laval nozzle technique. Electronic structure calculations are performed to derive intermediates, transition states, and complexes formed along the reaction coordinate. The combination of photoionization and LIF experiments supported by theoretical calculations indicate that in the temperature and pressure range investigated, the H + H{sub 2}CN production channel represents 100% of the product yield for this reaction. Kinetics measurements of the title reaction down to 50 K and the effect of the new rate constants on interstellar nitrogen hydride abundances using a model of dense interstellar clouds are reported in Paper II.

• OSTI ID: 22518794
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 812, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
AMMONIA
ATOMS
CARBON
CHEMISTRY
ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE
FAR ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
FLUORESCENCE
GAS FLOW
GROUND STATES
INTERSTELLAR SPACE
MASS SPECTROSCOPY
MOLECULES
PHOTOIONIZATION
REACTION KINETICS
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0273-0400 K
TIME-OF-FLIGHT METHOD