New research has revealed that chemical reactions previously thought to be 'impossible' in space actually occur 'with vigour,' a discovery that could ultimately change our understanding of how alcohols are formed and destroyed in space - and which could also mean that places like Saturn's moon Titan, once considered too cold for life to form, may have a shortcut for biochemical reactions.
A team at the University of Leeds, UK recreated the cold environment of space in the laboratory and observed a reaction of the alcohol methanol and an oxidising chemical called the 'hydroxyl radical' at minus 210 degrees Celsius. They found that not only do these gases react to create methoxy radicals at such an incredibly cold temperature, but that the rate of reaction is 50 times faster than at room temperature.
They also found that this faster than expected reaction can only occur in the gas phase in space, that a product is formed (CH3O) - and that it can only form via a phenomenon they call 'quantum tunnelling.'
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