Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Untangling The Formation Of Methoxymethanol (Ch3Och2Oh) And Dimethyl Peroxide (Ch3Ooch3) In Star-Forming Regions, Cheng Zhu, Robert Frigge, Alexandre Bergantini, Ryan C. Fortenberry, Ralf I. Kaiser

Faculty and Student Publications

© 2019. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.. Methoxymethanol (CH3OCH2OH) was recently detected toward the MM1 core in the high-mass star-forming region NGC 6334I. However, the underlying formation mechanisms of this complex organic molecule (COM) as well as its structural isomers ethylene glycol (HOCH2CH2OH) and the hitherto unobserved dimethyl peroxide (CH3OOCH3) are still elusive. Here, we report the very first confirmed synthesis of dimethyl peroxide - at various deuteration levels within interstellar analogous ices of D3-methanol (CD3OH) exposed to ionizing radiation at ultralow temperatures of 5 K. The discrimination of specific isomers is achieved by exploiting reflectron time-of-flight mass …