A molecular beam and computational study on the barrierless gas phase formation of (iso)quinoline in low temperature extraterrestrial environments

Despite remarkable progress toward the understanding of the formation pathways leading to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in combustion systems and in deep space, the complex reaction pathways leading to nitrogen-substituted PAHs (NPAHs) at low temperatures of molecular clouds and hydrocarbon-rich, nitrogen-containing atmospheres of planets and their moons like Titan have remained largely obscure. Here, we demonstrate through laboratory experiments and computations that the simplest prototype of NPAHs – quinoline and isoquinoline (C9H7N) – can be synthesized via rapid and de-facto barrier-less reactions involving o-, m- and p-pyridinyl radicals (C5H4N˙) with vinylacetylene (C4H4) under low-temperature conditions.