Abstract
The formation of nitrogen-containing organic interstellar molecules is of great importance to reveal chemical processes and the origin of life on Earth. Benzonitrile (BN) is one of the simplest nitrogen-containing aromatic molecules in the interstellar medium (ISM) that has been detected in recent years. Methanol (CH(3)OH) exists widely in interstellar space with high reactivity. Herein, we measured the infrared (IR) spectra of neutral and cationic BN-CH(3)OH clusters by vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photoionization combined with time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Combining IR spectra with the density functional theory calculations, we reveal that the BN-CH(3)OH intends to form a cyclic H-bonded structure in neutral clusters. However, after the ionization of BN-CH(3)OH clusters, proton-shared N···H···O and N···H···C structures are confirmed to form between BN and CH(3)OH, with the minor coexistence of H-bond and O-π structures. The formation of the proton-shared structure expands our knowledge of the evolution of the life-related nitrogen-containing molecules in the universe and provides a possible pathway to the further study of biorelevant aromatic organic macromolecules.