Electron scattering from prebiotic ethylene glycol: An R-matrix study

Abstract

Ethylene glycol is a prebiotically relevant complex organic molecule detected in interstellar and cometary environments, yet quantitative low-energy electron–ethylene glycol scattering data remain limited for astrochemical modeling. This work presents an R-matrix study of low-energy electron collisions with ethylene glycol over a 0–12 eV energy range, using static exchange (SE), static exchange plus polarization (SEP), and configuration interaction (CI) models with 6-311G* and cc-pVTZ basis sets. We compute elastic, excitation, and differential cross-sections within a close-coupling framework. The dataset offers benchmark inputs for astrochemical models, supporting interpretation of ethylene glycol abundances in space and refining constraints on electron-induced prebiotic pathways.