We review the reactions between carbon chain molecules and radicals, namely C_n, C_nH, C_nH₂, C_2n+1O, C_nN, HC_2n+1N, with C, N and O atoms. Rate constants and branching ratios for these processes have been re-evaluated using experimental and theoretical literature data. In total 8 new species have been introduced, 41 new reactions have been proposed and 122 rate coefficients from kida.uva.2011 have been modified. We test the effect of the new rate constants and branching ratios on the predictions of gas–grain chemical models for dark cloud conditions using two different C/O elemental ratios. We show that the new rate constants produce large differences in the predicted abundances of carbon chains since the formation of long chains is less effective. The general agreement between the model predictions and observed abundances in the dark cloud TMC-1 (CP) is improved by the new network and we find that C/O ratios of 0.7 and 0.95 both produce a similar agreement for different times. The general agreement for L134N (N) is not significantly changed. The current work specifically highlights the importance of O + C_nH and N + C_nH reactions. As there are very few experimental or theoretical data for the rate constants of these reactions, we highlight the need for experimental studies of the O + C_nH and N + C_nH reactions, particularly at low temperature.