The role of high-pressure in the reactivity of simple molecules: implications in prebiotic chemistry

Abstract

Simple molecules are abundant in several space environments and the knowledge of their physical properties and chemical reactivity is central in many disciplines. Pressure plays a key role in this scenario causing intriguing and unexpected aggregation forms and chemical transformations also for the simplest molecules like water, nitrogen and carbon dioxide. Particularly interesting is the simultaneous effect of pressure and absorption of radiation, a common scenario in spatial environments, because of the electronic changes produced in the molecular systems which result able to trigger chemical processes by exploiting the high-density conditions. Here we will provide some examples of the high-pressure reactivity of few simple model molecules and of their mixtures. These molecules have been selected on the basis of their abundance and relevance in a prebiotic chemical framework. In most of the examples, attention is posed on the comparison between purely pressure-induced and laser-assisted high-pressure reactions in order to account and discriminate the effects of the two variables on the reactivity. The technical approaches employed to reproduce in laboratory, the pressure and temperature conditions of interest for simulating the conditions encountered in different spatial environments will also be briefly reviewed.