Calculations of ion-molecule deuterium fractionation reactions involving HD.

Abstract

Gas-phase chemical models of deuterium fractionation in dense interstellar clouds utilize a small number of exothermic reactions to achieve fractionation. Although HD is a major repository of deuterium, it appears not to exchange deuterium with many molecular ions. Useful semiquantitative reasons have been given for the unusual lack of reactivity of exothermic ion-HD deuterium exchange systems, but quantum chemical studies are needed to understand these ideas in more detail and to determine if the lack of reactivity pertains at very low temperatures not studied in the laboratory, or whether tunneling can drive the reactions. Accordingly, the potential energy surfaces of three representative ion-molecule exchange reactions involving protonated ions (H3+, CH3+, HCO+) and HD have been investigated with ab initio quantum chemical techniques. Our results generally confirm the semiquantitative picture as to which reactions are likely to occur and show that tunneling at low temperatures is unlikely to alter this picture.