GAS PHASE SYNTHESIS OF (ISO)QUINOLINE AND ITS ROLE IN THE FORMATION OF NUCLEOBASES IN THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM
- Department of Chemistry, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States)
- Chemical Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199 (United States)
Nitrogen-substituted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (NPAHs) have been proposed to play a key role in the astrochemical evolution of the interstellar medium, yet the formation mechanisms of even their simplest prototypes—quinoline and isoquinoline—remain elusive. Here, we reveal a novel concept that under high temperature conditions representing circumstellar envelopes of carbon stars, (iso)quinoline can be synthesized via the reaction of pyridyl radicals with two acetylene molecules. The facile gas phase formation of (iso)quinoline in circumstellar envelopes defines a hitherto elusive reaction class synthesizing aromatic structures with embedded nitrogen atoms that are essential building blocks in contemporary biological-structural motifs. Once ejected from circumstellar shells and incorporated into icy interstellar grains in cold molecular clouds, these NPAHs can be functionalized by photo processing forming nucleobase-type structures as sampled in the Murchison meteorite.
- OSTI ID:
- 22522505
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 803; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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