Gas-phase Formation of Large, Astronomically Relevant Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Clusters
As one class of important carbon reservoirs in interstellar clouds, large polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their derivative species play an important role in the formation and evolution of interstellar carbonaceous compounds. To understand these chemical routes, the gas-phase ion–molecula...
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4365/ad9263 |
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| author | Yanan Ge Congcong Zhang Xiaoyi Hu Jia Liu Liping Qin Junfeng Zhen |
| author_facet | Yanan Ge Congcong Zhang Xiaoyi Hu Jia Liu Liping Qin Junfeng Zhen |
| author_sort | Yanan Ge |
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| description | As one class of important carbon reservoirs in interstellar clouds, large polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their derivative species play an important role in the formation and evolution of interstellar carbonaceous compounds. To understand these chemical routes, the gas-phase ion–molecular collision reaction between large, astronomically relevant PAH (dicoronylene, DC, C _48 H _20 ) cations and smaller neutral superhydrogenated PAHs (2, 3–benzofluorene, C _17 H _12 ) are investigated. Series of large DC/2, 3–benzofluorene cluster cations (e.g., [(C _17 H _12 ) _6 C _48 H _14 ] ^+ , 236 atoms, and [(C _17 H _12 ) _5 C _48 ] ^+ , 193 atoms) are efficiently formed by gas-phase condensation under laser irradiation conditions. With theoretical calculations, the structure of newly formed DC/2, 3-benzofluorene cluster cations and the bonding energy for these formation reactions are obtained. Moreover, the IR spectra of DC/2, 3-benzofluorene cluster cations are also calculated. The gas-phase reactions between large PAH species occur relatively easily, resulting in a very large number of reactions and very complex molecular clusters. The adduct processes and the formed molecular structure relatively depend on the carbon reaction sites. The carbon edge sites have different chemical reactivity, which may affect the abundance of these relevant interstellar substances. Furthermore, intermolecular hydrogen transfer plays an important role in cluster formation processes, which can lead the newly formed clusters to become more stable. We infer that small superhydrogenated PAH molecules (e.g., 2, 3-benzofluorene) can effectively aggregate on the large PAH molecules (e.g., dehydrogenated DC cations or carbon clusters) in the gas phase, which provides proposed chemical-evolution routes (ion–molecular reaction pathways) for the formation of the nanometer-sized dust grains in a bottom-up process (in building block pathways) in the interstellar medium. |
| format | Article |
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| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0067-0049 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
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| series | The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series |
| spelling | doaj-art-01cd56a455cd4aee8e7b9efa6ac5208f2025-01-09T06:48:45ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series0067-00492025-01-0127612610.3847/1538-4365/ad9263Gas-phase Formation of Large, Astronomically Relevant Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon ClustersYanan Ge0Congcong Zhang1Xiaoyi Hu2Jia Liu3Liping Qin4Junfeng Zhen5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3972-5266CAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environment, University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei 230026, People's Republic of China ; jfzhen@ustc.edu.cn; CAS Center for Excellence in Comparative Planetology, University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei 230026, People's Republic of ChinaCAS Key Laboratory for Research in Galaxies and Cosmology, Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei 230026, People's Republic of ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environment, University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei 230026, People's Republic of China ; jfzhen@ustc.edu.cn; CAS Center for Excellence in Comparative Planetology, University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei 230026, People's Republic of ChinaInstitute of Deep Space Sciences , Deep Space Exploration Laboratory, Hefei 230026, People's Republic of ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environment, University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei 230026, People's Republic of China ; jfzhen@ustc.edu.cn; CAS Center for Excellence in Comparative Planetology, University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei 230026, People's Republic of China; Institute of Deep Space Sciences , Deep Space Exploration Laboratory, Hefei 230026, People's Republic of ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environment, University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei 230026, People's Republic of China ; jfzhen@ustc.edu.cn; CAS Center for Excellence in Comparative Planetology, University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei 230026, People's Republic of China; Hunan Key Laboratory for Stellar and Interstellar Physics and School of Physics and Optoelectronics, Xiangtan University , Hunan 411105, People's Republic of ChinaAs one class of important carbon reservoirs in interstellar clouds, large polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their derivative species play an important role in the formation and evolution of interstellar carbonaceous compounds. To understand these chemical routes, the gas-phase ion–molecular collision reaction between large, astronomically relevant PAH (dicoronylene, DC, C _48 H _20 ) cations and smaller neutral superhydrogenated PAHs (2, 3–benzofluorene, C _17 H _12 ) are investigated. Series of large DC/2, 3–benzofluorene cluster cations (e.g., [(C _17 H _12 ) _6 C _48 H _14 ] ^+ , 236 atoms, and [(C _17 H _12 ) _5 C _48 ] ^+ , 193 atoms) are efficiently formed by gas-phase condensation under laser irradiation conditions. With theoretical calculations, the structure of newly formed DC/2, 3-benzofluorene cluster cations and the bonding energy for these formation reactions are obtained. Moreover, the IR spectra of DC/2, 3-benzofluorene cluster cations are also calculated. The gas-phase reactions between large PAH species occur relatively easily, resulting in a very large number of reactions and very complex molecular clusters. The adduct processes and the formed molecular structure relatively depend on the carbon reaction sites. The carbon edge sites have different chemical reactivity, which may affect the abundance of these relevant interstellar substances. Furthermore, intermolecular hydrogen transfer plays an important role in cluster formation processes, which can lead the newly formed clusters to become more stable. We infer that small superhydrogenated PAH molecules (e.g., 2, 3-benzofluorene) can effectively aggregate on the large PAH molecules (e.g., dehydrogenated DC cations or carbon clusters) in the gas phase, which provides proposed chemical-evolution routes (ion–molecular reaction pathways) for the formation of the nanometer-sized dust grains in a bottom-up process (in building block pathways) in the interstellar medium.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4365/ad9263AstrochemistryInterstellar moleculesMolecule formationLaboratory astrophysicsInterstellar dustPolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons |
| spellingShingle | Yanan Ge Congcong Zhang Xiaoyi Hu Jia Liu Liping Qin Junfeng Zhen Gas-phase Formation of Large, Astronomically Relevant Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Clusters The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series Astrochemistry Interstellar molecules Molecule formation Laboratory astrophysics Interstellar dust Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons |
| title | Gas-phase Formation of Large, Astronomically Relevant Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Clusters |
| title_full | Gas-phase Formation of Large, Astronomically Relevant Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Clusters |
| title_fullStr | Gas-phase Formation of Large, Astronomically Relevant Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Clusters |
| title_full_unstemmed | Gas-phase Formation of Large, Astronomically Relevant Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Clusters |
| title_short | Gas-phase Formation of Large, Astronomically Relevant Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Clusters |
| title_sort | gas phase formation of large astronomically relevant polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon clusters |
| topic | Astrochemistry Interstellar molecules Molecule formation Laboratory astrophysics Interstellar dust Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4365/ad9263 |
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