title: Modelling the formation of complex organic molecules in star forming regions

authors: Robin Garrod

abstract: Hot cores in star-forming regions are currently the richest sources of complex organic molecules observed in the interstellar medium. Recent ALMA observations of the well known hot-core source Sagittarius B2(N), as part of the EMoCA (Exploring Molecular Complexity with ALMA) project, have yielded detections of new interstellar molecules, including iso-propyl cyanide (i-C3H7CN), the first interstellar molecule with a branched carbon backbone[1].

To understand the formation and destruction of the increasingly complex organic species found in hot cores demands new chemical networks, with a particular emphasis on dust-grain surface and ice-mantle chemistry. I will outline the approach used in the most recent models of hot core chemistry, and will consider what new molecular detections can tell us about the chemistry of the interstellar medium.

[1] Belloche, Garrod, Mueller & Menten, 2014, Science, 345, 1584