An overview of desorption parameters of Volatile and Complex Organic Molecules: A systematic dig on experimental literature

Abstract

Many molecules observed in the interstellar medium are thought to result from thermal desorption of ices. Parameters such as desorption energy and pre-exponential frequency factor are essential to describe the desorption of molecules. Experimental determinations of these parameters are missing for many molecules, including those found in the interstellar medium. The objective of this work is to expand the number of molecules for which desorption parameters are available, by collecting and re-analysing experimental temperature programmed desorption data that are present in the literature. Transition State Theory (TST) is used in combination with the Redhead equation to determine desorption parameters. Experimental data and molecular constants (e.g., mass, moment of inertia) are collected and given as input. Using the Redhead-TST method, the desorption parameters for 133 molecules have been determined. The Redhead-TST method is found to provide reliable results that agree well with desorption parameters determined with more rigorous experimental methods. The importance of using accurately determined pre-exponential frequency factors to simulate desorption profiles is emphasised. The large amount of data allows to look for trends, the most important is the relationship log$_{10}$($\nu$) = 2.65ln($m$) + 8.07, where $\nu$ is the pre-exponential frequency factor and $m$ the mass of the molecule. The data collected in this work allow to model the thermal desorption of molecules and help understand changes in chemical and elemental composition of interstellar environments.