GAS-PHASE CHEMISTRY of the CYANATE ION, OCN-

Abstract

Cyanate (OCN-) is the only ion to date whose presence has been confirmed in the icy mantles that coat interstellar dust grains. Understanding the chemical behavior of cyanate at a fundamental level is therefore integral to the advancement of astrochemistry. We seek to unravel the chemistry of this intriguing anion through a combination of gas-phase experiments and theoretical explorations. Our approach is twofold: first, employing a flowing afterglow-selected ion flow tube apparatus, the reactions between OCN- and three of the most abundant atomic species in the interstellar medium, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen, are examined. Hydrogen atoms readily react by associative detachment, but the remarkable stability of OCN- does not give rise to an observable reaction with either nitrogen or oxygen atoms. To explain these results, the potential energy surfaces of several reactions are investigated at the B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory. Second, collision induced dissociation experiments involving deprotonated uracil, thymine, and cytosine in an ion trap mass spectrometer reveal an interesting connection between these pyrimidine nucleobase anions and OCN-. Theoretical calculations at the B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory are performed to delineate the mechanisms of dissociation and explore the possible role of OCN- as a biomolecule precursor.