The chemical pathways of O(¹D) insertion reactions with methylamine (CH₃NH₂)

Many molecules predicted to form from radical-radical chemistry on the icy surfaces of interstellar dust grains are unstable, reactive species that cannot be purchased commercially. Methods to produce these molecules in sufficient quantity to enable their spectroscopic detection are therefore useful tools for laboratory astrochemistry. We have previously successfully employed insertion reactions of oxygen atoms in the (¹D) state to make methanol (CH₃OH) from methane (CH₄) and vinyl alcohol (CH₂CHOH) from ethylene (CH₂CH₂). We are currently using the O(¹D) + CH₃NH₂ reaction to attempt to make aminomethanol, NH₂CH₂OH, the direct precursor to glycine in the interstellar medium. To do this, we mixed O₃ (in O₂), CH₃NH₂, and Ar in the throat of a supersonic expansion. The gas mixture passed through a quartz tube wherein we produced O(¹D) from photolysis of O₃ at 248 nm. The products of these reactions were then probed downstream in the supersonic expansion using millimeter/submillimeter rotational spectroscopy. A complex chemical network producing formaldehyde (H₂CO), methanimine (CH₂NH), formamide (NH₂CHO), hydrogen cyanide (HCN), and at least two unknown products has been observed. Neither unknown product appears to be aminomethanol; work is underway to identify the molecular carriers. We have employed a chemical kinetics box model using the Framework for 0-D Atmospheric Modeling (F0AM) software to further examine the results that we observe. In this talk we will present the experimental design, the spectroscopic results, the details of the model, and the conclusions that can be drawn about the O(¹D) + CH₃NH₂ reaction network.