Study of Reactivity for the Formation of Organic Molecules of Interstellar Interest

We have shown that ion-molecule reactions can be used to answer questions concerning the presence of organic molecules, and in particular molecules potentially responsible for the origin of life in space. An ion-molecule reactor is coupled with IR spectroscopy in the range of 800-3800 cm⁻¹ and is designed to understand the mechanism of glycine synthesis, the simplest amino acid. IR radiation is used to assist the synthesis of glycine from the adduct between two precursors, protonated hydroxylamine and acetic acid, and to characterize the structure of the observed products. This setup allows for the study of new synthetic pathways for the formation of complex organic molecules. [Scuderi2020]