Formaldehyde and methanol were produced efficiently by the hydrogenation of CO in H 2 O-CO ice at 10 K in an atomic hydrogen beam experiment. The relative yields to the initial CO were of the order of 10%, 3 orders of magnitude larger than those reported previously. This reveals for the first time experimentally that successive hydrogenation of CO is most likely to produce formaldehyde and methanol on the surface of icy grains in molecular clouds as suggested by theoretical models.

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The reactions of cold H atoms with solid O 2 molecules were investigated at 10 K. The formation of H 2 O 2 and H 2 O has been confirmed by in-situ infrared spectroscopy. We found that the reaction proceeds very efficiently and obtained the effective reaction rates. This is the first clear experimental evidence of the formation of water molecules under conditions mimicking those found in cold interstellar molecular clouds. Based on the experimental results, we discuss the reaction mechanism and astrophysical implications.

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