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SUMMARY:When Error Bars Increase Confidence: Hydrogen Cyanide Hydrolysis a
 nd the Availability of  Cyanide in Planetary Environments - Sai Shruthi Mu
 rali (Cavendish)
DTSTART:20260317T120000Z
DTEND:20260317T130000Z
UID:TALK243184@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Dolev Bashi
DESCRIPTION:Hydrogen cyanide (HCN) has emerged one of the key molecules fo
 r the synthesis of major building blocks of life\n– lipids\, sugars and 
 nucleotides – through a series of chemical reactions\, some mediated by 
 ultraviolet light along\nwith other scenarios. The amount of cyanide avail
 able in a natural environment can be predicted from the rate at\nwhich it 
 is produced in an environment plus the rate it is introduced to the enviro
 nment\, versus the rates it is\ndestroyed and leaves the environment. One 
 of the most important mechanisms of HCN loss is hydrolysis and it\ndepends
  on the physical and chemical conditions of the environment.\nI will prese
 nt the most comprehensive study thus far of the hydrolysis of HCN. I explo
 re hydrolysis across a\nrange of temperatures\, pH and in the presence of 
 salts like sulfite\, sulfide and phosphate. We determine the\ndegradation 
 rate of HCN for this range of conditions and predict the rate constants fo
 r acid-catalyzed hydrolysis\nand base-catalyzed hydrolysis\, along with un
 certainties. These uncertainties are critical for comparing our results\nt
 o similar studies and applying our results to environmental conditions. We
  find that in the neutral to alkaline\nconditions\, the hydrolysis rates a
 re comparable to literature within the error limits. However\, in acidic c
 onditions\nthe rates are slower with lower activation energy (49.7±4 KJ/m
 ol). We apply our results\, in comparison to a\nvariety of cyanide sources
  found in the literature to provide new predictions of cyanide availabilit
 y in natural\nwaters. Our results are critical for constraining the prebio
 tic environment where the prebiotic synthesis of amino\nacids\, nucleotide
 s and phospholipids could have occurred.
LOCATION:Battcock F17 + ONLINE - Details to be sent by email
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