The production of HCN dimer and more complex oligomers in dense interstellar clouds
Open accessAbstract
Using quantum chemical and kinetic techniques, we show that the reaction between two HCN molecules under interstellar conditions cannot lead efficiently to a dimer of this species (H2C2N2), whatever its structure. If the dimerization reaction does not occur efficiently, then it is impossible to synthesize detectable abundances of the pre-biotic HCN oligomer adenine (H5C5N5) in the interstellar medium via successive neutral-neutral reactions between HCN and its dimer, trimer, and tetramer.
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Interstellar gas-phase production routes are incapable of producing significant amounts of HCN, in spite of its detection.
“However, it has been found that interstellar gas-phase production routes are incapable of producing significant amounts of HCN [128,129], in spite of its detection.”
From The future of quantum biology (2018) · cites this paper as [128]
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- Authors
- Smith, I. W. M., Talbi, D., & Herbst, E.
- Affiliations
- University of Birmingham (GB)
- Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (FR)
- The Ohio State University (US)
- Venue
- Astronomy & Astrophysics
- Publisher
- EDP Sciences
- Published
- 2001-04
- Volume
- 369
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 611-615
- ISSN
- 0004-6361 (ISSN-L)
- 1432-0746
- OpenAlex
- W2056587395
- Cited by
- 66
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 0.20
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Astronomy and Astrophysics (publishedVersion)
- Springer Link (Chiba Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- University of Birmingham Research Portal (University of Birmingham) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Ohio State University
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astro and Planetary Science
- Keywords
- interstellar medium, dense interstellar clouds, prebiotic chemistry, adenine synthesis, neutral-neutral reactions, reaction kinetics, astrochemistry
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