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Unique Chemistry at Ice Surfaces: Incomplete Proton Transfer in the H 3 O + –NH 3 System
Author(s) -
Park SeongChan,
Maeng KyeWon,
Pradeep T.,
Kang Heon
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/1521-3773(20010417)40:8<1497::aid-anie1497>3.0.co;2-f
Subject(s) - metastability , ion , proton , chemistry , interstellar ice , chemical physics , kinetic energy , mass spectrometry , interstellar cloud , interstellar medium , physics , organic chemistry , nuclear physics , astrophysics , quantum mechanics , chromatography , galaxy
Immobile solvated ions such as NH 4 + ⋅NH 3 act as kinetic traps that prevent the proton‐transfer reaction between H 3 O + and NH 3 on ice surfaces at 85–140 K reaching thermodynamic equilibrium. A combination of Cs + reactive ion scattering and mass spectrometry showed that all species of the reaction (NH 3 , NH 4 + , H 2 O, and H 3 O + ) coexist on ice. This result indicates that metastable species can be produced and kinetically stabilized on ice surfaces such that they may contribute to the chemistry of stratospheric and interstellar ice particles.