Stability of protonated and ionized hydroxylamine in the interstellar medium

The stability of protonated and ionized hydroxylamine in relation to their reactivity with molecular hydrogen has been studied. All stationary points and transition states for the reactions of H2 with protonated and ionized hydroxylamine have been determined at the MP2(full) level with the cc-pVTZ basis set. Energetic data have been obtained at the CCSD(T) level employing the aug-cc-pVTZ basis set. The analysis of the potential energy surfaces corresponding to both reactions shows that molecular H2 cannot react either with protonated or ionized hydroxylamine under interstellar conditions. Therefore both ionized and protonated hydroxylamine may participate in synthetic routes of amino acids.

Energy profile, in kcal/mol, for the reaction of NH3OH+ with H2 at the CCSD(T) and MP2(full) (in parentheses) levels.