Despite the extremely low density and low temperature in the interstellar medium , the chemistry therein is surprisingly active. To date, more than 200 molecules, including many organic ones, have been detected in the interstellar medium. Some of these interstellar molecules are considered prebiotic molecules as they can serve as precursors of biological molecules such as amino acids . We have developed a series of models, including cold, warm-up and shock models, to study the chemical reactions of interstellar prebiotic molecules ethanimine and caynomethanimine isomers. By comparing the calculated abundances with the observed values, we studied in detail the formation and destruction mechanism, and pointed out the physical conditions of the corresponding regions. The study can enrich our understanding of astrochemistry, and may help to answer one of the human beings' ultimate question: the origin of life on the earth.

BIO
Dr. Donghui Quan received the BS degree from the Gifted Young Program at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 1998, the MS degree from the Department of Chemical Physics at USTC in 2003, and the PhD degree from the Chemical Physics Program at the Ohio State University in 2009 under the supervision of Professor Eric Herbst, one of the founders of astrochemistry research field. Dr. Quan is engaged in scientific research in the fields of astrophysics and astrochemistry, and has established several models based on chemical kinetics for different astronomical systems. His research involves about one-third of all detected interstellar molecules and has lead to publications in world leading journals in the astrophysics field.

Host: Prof. Dandan Xu