Hiroshi Imanaka

Formation of nitrogenated organic aerosols in the Titan upper atmosphere

Many aspects of the nitrogen fixation process by photochemistry in the Titan atmosphere are not fully understood. The recent Cassini mission revealed organic aerosol formation in the upper atmosphere of Titan. It is not clear, however, how much and by what mechanism nitrogen is incorporated in Titan’s organic aerosols. Using tunable synchrotron radiation at the Advanced Light Source, we demonstrate the first evidence of nitrogenated organic aerosol production by extreme ultraviolet–vacuum ultraviolet irradiation of a N2/CH4 gas mixture. The ultrahigh-mass-resolution study with laser desorption ionization-Fourier transform-ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry of N2/CH4 photolytic solid products at 60 and 82.5 nm indicates the predominance of highly nitrogenated compounds. The distinct nitrogen incorporations at the elemental abundances of H2C2N and HCN, respectively, are suggestive of important roles of H2C2N/HCCN and HCN/CN in their formation. The efficient formation of unsaturated hydrocarbons is observed in the gas phase without abundant nitrogenated neutrals at 60 nm, and this is confirmed by separately using 13C and 15N isotopically labeled initial gas mixtures. These observations strongly suggest a heterogeneous incorporation mechanism via short lived nitrogenated reactive species, such as HCCN radical, for nitrogenated organic aerosol formation, and imply that substantial amounts of nitrogen is fixed as organic macromolecular aerosols in Titan’s atmosphere.

A glow-discharge approach for functionalization of carbon nanotubes

We demonstrate the functionalization of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) using a glow discharge for generating atomic or molecular radicals. A 30-s exposure to a cold plasma of H2 results in near-saturation coverage of SWNT with atomic hydrogen. Functionalization of SWNTs with atomic hydrogen is confirmed by an infrared band at 2924u2009cm−1, characteristic of C–H stretching mode. A corresponding decrease in the ultraviolet absorption is also observed, which is due to a loss of some conjugated C–C π bonds in hydrogen covered SWNTs.

EUV Photochemical Production of Unsaturated Hydrocarbons: Implications to EUV Photochemistry in Titan and Jovian Planets†

The EUV photochemistry of methane is one of the dominant chemical processes in the upper atmospheres of Titan and Jovian planets. The dilution of CH(4) with N(2) significantly changes the subsequent hydrocarbon chemistry initiated by EUV photoionization. At wavelengths below 80 nm, the presence of the dominant N(2) species in a N(2)/CH(4) gas mixture (=95/5) selectively enhances the formation of unsaturated hydrocarbons, such as benzene and toluene, while pure CH(4) gas leads to a wide mixture of saturated/unsaturated hydrocarbon species. This enhanced formation of unsaturated hydrocarbons is most likely initiated by the generation of CH(3)(+) via a dissociative charge-transfer reaction between N(2)(+) and CH(4). This mechanism was further confirmed with the dilution of CH(4) with Ar, which shows similarly enhanced formation of unsaturated species from an Ar/CH(4) (=95/5) gas mixture. In contrast, the depleted generation of unsaturated species from a H(2)/CH(4) gas mixture (=95/5) suggests that the CH(5)(+) ion generated via a proton-transfer reaction is not an important precursor in the production of complex unsaturated hydrocarbons. Therefore, it is the dissociative charge-transfer reaction of CH(4) that initiates the formation of unsaturated complex hydrocarbons through production of C(2)H(5)(+) with subsequent dissociative recombination. Implications regarding photochemistry in the upper atmospheres of Titan and the Jovian planets are discussed.

Structural investigation of HCN polymer isotopomers by solution-state multidimensional NMR.

Hydrogen cyanide is considered as an important precursor to amino acids and nucleic acids, and its polymers could have profound implications on prebiotic chemistry. Several structures of HCN polymers are speculated, but these structures are disparate both chemically as well as structurally. Here, we employ solution-state NMR spectroscopy to investigate the structure of HCN polymers with (13)C and (15)N isotopic enrichment. From the multinuclear and multidimensional NMR investigations, we identify some discrete structural units for the most concentrated small molecular components and suggest that the dominating polymers are polyimine chain-like structures, which are formed by base-catalyzed nucleophilic addition reactions.

Structural investigation of Titan tholins by solution-state 1H, 13C, and 15N NMR: one-dimensional and decoupling experiments.

Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, is enveloped in a reddish brown organic haze. Titan haze is presumed to be formed from methane and nitrogen (CH(4) and N(2)) in Titans upper atmosphere through energetic photochemistry and particle bombardment. Though Titan haze has been directly investigated using methods including the Cassini mission, its formation mechanism and the contributing chemical structures and prebiotic potential are still not well developed. We report here the structural investigation of the (13)C and (15)N labeled, simulated Titan haze aerosol (tholin) by solution-state NMR. The one-dimensional (1)H, (13)C, and (15)N NMR spectra and decoupling experiments indicate that the tholin sample contains amine, nitrile, imine, and N-heteroaromatic compounds of tremendous import in understanding complex organic chemistry in anaerobic, extraterrestrial environments.