Citation: Feiyue Zhou, Changmao Li, Jiale Zhang, Weiqing Zhang, Wenrui Dong, Xueming Yang, Hongwei Li. Gas-phase reaction between CH· and CH₃OCH₃ at interstellar temperatures (25–100 K): Kinetics and astrochemical implications[J]. Chinese Chemical Letters, ;2026, 37(12): 111919. doi: 10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111919 shu

Gas-phase reaction between CH· and CH₃OCH₃ at interstellar temperatures (25–100 K): Kinetics and astrochemical implications

Feiyue Zhou ^{a, b} ,
Changmao Li ^a ,
Jiale Zhang ^a ,
Weiqing Zhang ^{a, b} ,
Wenrui Dong ^{a, b} ,
Xueming Yang ^{a, b, c} ,
Hongwei Li ^{a, b, *,}

a.
State Key Laboratory of Chemical Reaction Dynamics, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
b.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
c.
Department of Chemistry, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China

lihw@dicp.ac.cn

Received Date: 26 August 2025
Revised Date: 25 September 2025
Accepted Date: 28 September 2025
Available Online: 29 September 2025

Figures(6)

The methylidyne radical (CH·) and oxygen-bearing complex organic molecules (COMs), such as dimethyl ether (DME, CH₃OCH₃), are recognized to be of great importance in interstellar chemistry. However, despite its potential role in the growth and evolution of interstellar COMs, the reaction between CH· and DME has not yet been studied experimentally or theoretically. In this work, we measured the rate coefficients using the pulsed laser photolysis-laser induced fluorescence (PLP-LIF) technique, and characterized reaction product via vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photoionization reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometry (Re-TOFMS) under uniform supersonic low-temperature flow conditions. The rate coefficients were determined to range from 3.7 × 10^–10 cm³ molecule^-1 s^-1 to 1.6 × 10^–10 cm³ molecule^-1 s^-1 at temperatures of 25–100 K. By combining mass spectroscopy results and the newly calculated potential energy surface, we identified the dominate reaction pathway, which leads to the formation of CH₃O· + C₂H₄. Astrochemical modelling further revealed that this reaction serves as a gas-phase reaction source for CH₃O· in the cold interstellar environments.
- Low temperature supersonic uniform flow,
- Reaction kinetics based on laval nozzles,
- CH· radical,
- Dimethyl ether,
- Interstellar complex organic molecules,
- CH₃O· production
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Gas-phase reaction between CH· and CH₃OCH₃ at interstellar temperatures (25–100 K): Kinetics and astrochemical implications