Abstract
Ab initio calculations are used to investigate the energetics of the reaction of C2(X 1Σ+ g) with CH4. The heat of reaction is predicted to be exothermic by 5·4 kcal mol-1 and the barrier height is 0·2 kcal mol-1 at the QCISD(T)/6-311++G(2df,2p)//UMP2/6-311G(2df,2p) level of theory. The implications of the results are discussed in terms of their importance to the atmospheric evolution of ethane oceans on Titan.