Chemical Physics Letters, Vol.664, 173-177, 2016
Proton impact charge transfer on hydantoin - Prebiotic implications
Formation and destruction of prebiotic compounds in astrophysical environments is a major issue in reactions concerning the origin of life. Detection of hydantoin in laboratory irradiation of interstellar ice analogues has confirmed evidence of this prebiotic compound and its stability to UV radiation or collisions may be crucial. Considering the different astrophysical environments, we have investigated theoretically proton-induced collisions with hydantoin in a wide energy range, from eV in the interstellar medium, up to keV for processes involving solar wind or supernovae shock-waves protons. Results are compared to previous investigations and qualitative trends on damage under spatial radiations are suggested. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords:Hydantoin;Prebiotic compounds;Charge transfer processes;Ion-biomolecule collisions;Ab-initio molecular calculations