Efficient Surface Formation Route of Interstellar Hydroxylamine through NO Hydrogenation II: the multilayer regime in interstellar relevant ices

Abstract

Hydroxylamine (NH2OH) is one of the potential precursors of complex pre-biotic species in space. Here we present a detailed experimental study of hydroxylamine formation through nitric oxide (NO) surface hydrogenation for astronomically relevant conditions. The aim of this work is to investigate hydroxylamine formation efficiencies in polar (water-rich) and non-polar (carbon monoxide-rich) interstellar ice analogues. A complex reaction network involving both final (N2O, NH2OH) and intermediate (HNO, NH2O, etc.) products is discussed. The main conclusion is that hydroxylamine formation takes place via a fast and barrierless mechanism and it is found to be even more abundantly formed in a water-rich environment at lower temperatures. In parallel, we experimentally verify the non-formation of hydroxylamine upon UV photolysis of NO ice at cryogenic temperatures as well as the non-detection of NC- and NCO-bond bearing species after UV processing of NO in carbon monoxide-rich ices. Our results are implemented into an astrochemical reaction model, which shows that NH2OH is abundant in the solid phase under dark molecular cloud conditions. Once NH2OH desorbs from the ice grains, it becomes available to form more complex species (e.g., glycine and beta-alanine) in gas phase reaction schemes.

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• Atom addition reactions in interstellar ice analogues
• Sensitivity analysis of grain surface chemistry to binding energies of ice species
• Simultaneous Hydrogenation and UV-photolysis Experiments of NO in CO-rich Interstellar Ice Analogues; linking HNCO, OCN-, NH2CHO and NH2OH
• Low Temperature Surface Formation of NH3 and HNCO: hydrogenation of nitrogen atoms in CO-rich interstellar ice analogues
• The ALMA-PILS survey: First detection of nitrous acid (HONO) in the interstellar medium
• Formation of hydroxylamine on dust grains via ammonia oxidation
• Thermal H/D exchange in polar ice - deuteron scrambling in space