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| Journal Article | PUBDB-2025-03807 |
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2025
Wiley-VCH
Weinheim
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Please use a persistent id in citations: doi:10.1002/ange.202422710 doi:10.3204/PUBDB-2025-03807
Abstract: Carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen are among the most abundant elements in the solar system, and our understanding of their interactions is fundamental to prebiotic chemistry. CH$_4$ and N$_2$ are the simplest archetypical molecules formed by these elements and are both markedly stable under extremes of pressure. Through a series of diamond anvil cell experiments supported by density functional theory calculations, we observe diverse compound formation and reactivity in the CH$_4$-N$_2$ binary system at high pressure. Above 7 GPa two concentration-dependent molecular compounds emerge, (CH$_4$)$_5$N$_2$ and (CH$_4$)7(N2)8, held together by weak van der Waals interactions. Strikingly, further compression at room temperature irreversibly breaks the N2 triple bond, inducing the dissociation of CH$_4$ above 140 GPa, with the near-quenched samples revealing distinct spectroscopic signatures of strong covalently bonded C−N−H networks. High temperatures vastly reduce the required pressure to promote the reactivity between CH$_4$ and N$_2$, with NH$_3$ forming together with longer-chain hydrocarbons at 14 GPa and 670 K, further decomposing into powdered diamond when temperatures exceed 1200 K. These results exemplify how pressure-driven chemistry can cause unexpected complexity in the most simple molecular precursors.
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; DEAL Wiley ; Ebsco Academic Search ; Nationallizenz
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