New physical insights: Formamide discharge decomposition and the role of fragments in the formation of large biomolecules

In this work we present a time-resolved FTIR spectroscopic study on kinetics of atomic and molecular species, specifically CO, CN radical, N-2, HCN and CO2 generated in a glow discharge of formamide-nitrogen-water mixture in a helium buffer gas. Radicals such as NH, CH and OH have been proven to be fundamental stones of subsequent chemical reactions having a crucial role in a prebiotic synthesis of large organic molecules. This work contains three main goals. Firstly, we present our time-resolved spectra of formamide decomposition products and discuss the mechanism of collisional excitations between specific species. Secondly, according to our time resolution, we demonstrate and explain the band shape of CO's first overtone and the energy transfer between excited nitrogen and CO, present in our spectra. Lastly, we present theoretical results for the non-LTE modelling of the spectra using bi-temperature approach and a 1D harmonic Franck-Condon approach for the multi-molecule spectra of the formamide decomposition process in the 1800-5600 cm(-1) spectral range (C) 2022 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Automated summary

This work presents a time-resolved FTIR spectroscopic study on the kinetics of atomic and molecular species generated in a glow discharge of formamide-nitrogen-water mixture in a helium buffer gas. The study focuses on CO, CN radical, N-2, HCN, and CO2, which play important roles in prebiotic synthesis of organic molecules. The research includes analysis of decomposition products, energy transfer between excited nitrogen and CO, and theoretical modeling of formamide decomposition process.