All articles tagged with #crystal surfaces
New computer simulations suggest solid hydrogen cyanide crystals in cold environments have reactive surfaces that can convert HCN into hydrogen isocyanide, enabling formation of complex prebiotic molecules and potentially driving the origin of life; researchers plan lab tests to verify these surface-catalyzed reactions.
A study in ACS Central Science shows that frozen hydrogen cyanide forms needle-like crystal surfaces that generate strong electric fields and catalyze reactions, including HCN→HNC isomerization, at cryogenic temperatures. This surface catalysis could drive early prebiotic chemistry and help explain HNC’s abundance in cold space environments like Titan and comets, suggesting solid HCN crystals may have acted as tiny reaction engines in the origins of life.