Why HOC[TSUP]+[/TSUP] Is Detectable in Interstellar Clouds: The Rate of the Reaction between HOC[TSUP]+[/TSUP] and H[TINF]2[/TINF]

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Abstract
The recent confirmation by Ziurys and Apponi of the detection of HOC+ toward Sgr B2 (OH), and their identification of the ion in Orion-KL and several other sources show that HOC+ is far more abundant than predicted by previous ion-molecule models. In these models, the reaction HOC+ + H2 → HCO+ + H2 is assumed to rapidly destroy HOC+, based on the results of a prior calculation. We have recalculated the rate of this reaction as a function of temperature using a new ab initio potential surface and a phase space approach to the dynamics which includes tunneling. The newly calculated rate is small (≤1 × 10-10 cm3 s-1) at temperatures under 100 K.