Issue 5, 2012

Chemical reaction networks as a model to describe UVC- and radiolytically-induced reactions of simple compounds

Abstract

When a chemical system is submitted to high energy sources (UV, ionizing radiation, plasma sparks, etc.), as is expected to be the case of prebiotic chemistry studies, a plethora of reactive intermediates could form. If oxygen is present in excess, carbon dioxide and water are the major products. More interesting is the case of reducing conditions where synthetic pathways are also possible. This article examines the theoretical modeling of such systems with random-generated chemical networks. Four types of random-generated chemical networks were considered that originated from a combination of two connection topologies (viz., Poisson and scale-free) with reversible and irreversible chemical reactions. The results were analyzed taking into account the number of the most abundant products required for reaching 50% of the total number of moles of compounds at equilibrium, as this may be related to an actual problem of complex mixture analysis. The model accounts for multi-component reaction systems with no a priori knowledge of reacting species and the intermediates involved if system components are sufficiently interconnected. The approach taken is relevant to an earlier study on reactions that may have occurred in prebiotic systems where only a few compounds were detected. A validation of the model was attained on the basis of results of UVC and radiolytic reactions of prebiotic mixtures of low molecular weight compounds likely present on the primeval Earth.

Graphical abstract: Chemical reaction networks as a model to describe UVC- and radiolytically-induced reactions of simple compounds

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
08 Jan 2012
Accepted
15 Feb 2012
First published
06 Mar 2012

Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2012,11, 835-842

Chemical reaction networks as a model to describe UVC- and radiolytically-induced reactions of simple compounds

D. Dondi, D. Merli, A. Albini, A. Zeffiro and N. Serpone, Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2012, 11, 835 DOI: 10.1039/C2PP00005A

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