Chemical changes induced during heating of acetonitrile-rich ice pre-irradiated by X-rays and its implication in...

In this work, we investigate the effects induced by the heating of acetonitrile-rich ice from 13 K to 350 K. Before the heating, the sample was irradiated at 13 K by broadband X-rays (6 eV to 2 keV), which trigger the production of new molecules, such as HCN, H₂CCNH, CH₄ and CH₃NC (see Carvalho and Pilling, 2020) and also induced desorption of frozen species to gas-phase. New spectra were collected during heating to investigate whether new species, not present before at lower temperatures, appear due to thermal processing. New infrared bands were identified at temperatures around 120 K and 300 K, from which it was possible to notice the possible presence of HCN/CN radical, ammonia and C₂N₂. It was also verified that acetonitrile has a thermal desorption peak between 120 K and 200 K, which yields to the vanishing of acetonitrile within the sample for temperatures of 200 K and above. Some infrared features assigned before solely to acetonitrile remain for sample temperatures >200 K, which indicates the presence of blended species with similar infrared features. From analyzing those blended peaks, we also perceived the possible presence of aminoacetonitrile.