Aarhus Universitets segl

New center publication - Julia Santos

New publication providing evidence that CH3O + H2CO -> CH3OH + HCO is an important and possibly dominating last step to forming methanol in the interstellar medium

In this work, we provide compelling laboratory evidence that the radical-molecule H-atom abstraction reaction CH3O + H2CO -> CH3OH + HCO is an important and possibly dominating last step to forming methanol in the interstellar medium. Our results yield a contribution of ~80% from this route to the methanol yield, in agreement with kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. This finding can significantly impact chemical models involving interstellar methanol and related species.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ac7158