A study of methyl formate in astrochemical environments

Abstract

Several complex organic molecules are routinely detected in high abundances towards hot cores and hot corinos. For many of them, their paths of formation in space are uncertain, as gas-phase reactions alone seem to be insufficient. In this paper, we investigate a possible solid-phase route of formation for methyl formate (HCOOCH3). We use a chemical model updated with recent results from an experiment where simulated grain surfaces were irradiated with 200-keV protons at 16 K, to simulate the effects of cosmic ray irradiation on grain surfaces. We find that this model may be sufficient to reproduce the observed methyl formate in dark clouds, but not that found in hot cores and corinos.