Measurements on a variety of three-body association reactions between hydrocarbon ions and molecular hydrogen in the presence of helium have been undertaken. The rate coefficients of most of the systems studied are vanishingly small (less than 1 x 10 to the -30th cm exp 6/s) even at 80 K. The results cast severe doubt on a recent gas-phase model of complex hydrocarbon formation in dense interstellar clouds in which radiative association reactions between hydrocarbon ions and molecular hydrogen play a key role. In addition to the three-body reactions, some two-body reactions between hydrocarbon ions and molecular hydrogen and some reactions between carbon ions (C/+/) and hydrocarbon neutrals have been studied.
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Herbst et al. (1983) studied this question.