AN EXPERIMENTAL AND THEORETICAL STUDY ON THE IONIZATION ENERGIES OF POLYYNES (H-(CC)n-H; n=1-9)

We present a combined experimental and theoretical work on the ionization energies of polyacetylene-organic molecules considered as important building blocks to form polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in protoplanetary nebulae such as CRL 618. This set of astrophysical data can be utilized with significant confidence in future astrochemical models of photon-dominated regions and also of the protoplanetary nebulae CRL 618. We recommend ionization energies of polyacetylenes from diacetylene up to heptaacetylene with an experimental accuracy of +/- 0.05 eV: 10.03 eV (diacetylene), 9.45 eV (triacetylene), 9.08 eV (tetraacetylene), 8.75 eV (pentaacetylene), 8.65 eV (hexaacetylene), and 8.50 eV (heptaacetylene). Further, ionization energies with an accuracy of +/- 0.1 eV: 8.32 eV (octaacetylene) and 8.24 eV (nonaacetylene), were computed. Implications of these energies to the redox chemistry involved in the multiply charged metal-ion mediated chemistry of hydrocarbon-rich atmospheres of planets and their moons such as Titan are also discussed.