Journal
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Volume 689, Issue 2, Pages 1448-1455Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1086/592195
Keywords
astrochemistry; comets: general; ISM: molecules; meteors, meteoroids; molecular processes
Categories
Funding
- NASA's Origins of Solar Systems Program through NASA Ames Cooperative [NNX07AO86A]
- SETI Institute
Ask authors/readers for more resources
In light of recent measurement of nitrogen isotope ratios in CN and HCN in several comets, and the correlation between (15)N excess and the presence of nitrile (-CN) functional groups in meteoritic samples, we have reassessed the potential of interstellar chemistry to directly fractionate nitriles. We focus in particular on the (15)N chemistry in selective depletion cores where O-bearing molecules are depleted yet N- and C-bearing species remain in the gas, as revealed by the recent detection of CN in dense CO-depleted cores. We show that large HC(15)N/HC(14)N ratios can be generated if the reaction of CN with N has a barrier, and suggest that cometary HCN and CN may trace material originally formed in dense interstellar clouds.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available