Cryogenic Bottom-up Formation of the Benzene Cation from Acetylene in Helium Nanodroplets
product as the benzene radical cation. This is consistent with quantum-chemical calculations that predict a reaction pathway that is barrierless in both steps. These results establish a low-temperature route to the formation of the first aromatic ring in very cold condensed phases, which may impact our understanding of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon formation in the interstellar medium.
Authors
- Elisabeth Gruber (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1195-3638)
- Milan Ončák (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4801-3068)
- Vincent Richardson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4766-0914)
- Gabriel Schöpfer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5657-2671)
- Colombe Maurice
- Florian Foitzik (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-7920-4090)
Institutions
- University of Liverpool (GB)
- Universität Innsbruck (AT)
- Université Paris-Saclay (FR)
- École Normale Supérieure - PSL (FR)
- Ion Physics (United States) (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of the American Chemical Society
- Published
- 2026-05-02
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6c04278
- Primary Topic
- Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- University of Liverpool
- European Cooperation in Science and Technology
- Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
- Austrian Science Fund