Chemical networks

Abstract

This chapter discusses the fundamental ideas of how chemical networks are build, their strengths and limitations. The chemical reactions that occur in disks combine the cold phase reactions used to model cold molecular clouds with the hot chemistry applied to planetary atmosphere models. With a general understanding of the different types of reactions that can occur, one can proceed in building a network of chemical reactions and use it to explain the abundance of species seen in disks. One on-going research subject is finding new paths to synthesize species either in the gas-phase or on grain surfaces. Specific formation routes for water or carbon monoxide are discussed in more details.