Hydrogenated Benzene in Circumstellar Environments: Insights into the Photostability of Super-hydrogenated PAHs

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), comprised of fused benzene (C6H6) rings, emit infrared radiation (3–12 μm) due to the vibrational transitions of the C–H bonds of the aromatic rings. The 3.3 μm aromatic band is generally accompanied by the band at 3.4 μm assigned to the vibration of aliphatic C–H bonds of compounds such as PAHs with an excess of peripheral H atoms (Hn–PAHs). Herein we study the stability of fully hydrogenated benzene (or cyclohexane, C6H12) under the impact of stellar radiation in the photodissociation region (PDR) of NGC 7027. Using synchrotron radiation and time-of-flight mass spectrometry, we investigated the ionization and dissociation processes at energy ranges of UV (10–200 eV) and soft X-rays (280–310 eV). Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations were used to determine the most stable structures and the relevant low-lying isomers of singly charged C6H12 ions. Partial Ion Yield (PIY) analysis gives evidence of the higher tendency toward dissociation of cyclohexane in comparison to benzene. However, because of the high photoabsorption cross-section of benzene at the C1s resonance edge, its photodissociation and photoionization cross-sections are enhanced, leading to a higher efficiency of dissociation of benzene in the PDR of NGC 7027. We suggest that a similar effect is experienced by PAHs in X-ray photon-rich environments, which ultimately acts as an auxiliary protection mechanism of super-hydrogenated polycyclic hydrocarbons. Finally, we propose that the single photoionization of cyclohexane could enhance the abundance of branched molecules in interstellar and circumstellar media.