Possible molecular hydrogen formation mediated by the radical cations of anthracene and pyrene

Hydrogen molecules cannot be formed readily by the association of gaseous hydrogen atoms. Possible H(2) formation mediated by the radical cations of typical polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), anthracene and pyrene, was studied at the B3LYP/6-31G** level of theory. We presumed that H(2) is formed by way of two elementary reactions: the addition of an H atom to a PAH molecular cation, and the H abstraction from the resulting monohydro-PAH cation (i.e., arenium ion) by a second H atom to yield H(2). The first reaction takes place without any activation energy. The second reaction is also predicted to proceed along almost barrierless pathways, although it is far from being a typical ion-molecule reaction. There is a possibility that these reactions might constitute one of the mechanisms for H(2) formation in extremely cold interstellar space. Deuterium enrichment in PAH cations is possibly accompanied by such H(2) formation because deuteration lowers the energies of polyatomic PAH cations appreciably.