A search for interstellar oxiranecarbonitrile (C3H3NO)

Authors

JE Dickens
William M. Irvine, University of Massachusetts - AmherstFollow
M Ohishi
G Arrhenius
S Pitsch
A Bauder
F Muller
A Eschenmoser

Publication Date

1996

Journal or Book Title

ORIGINS OF LIFE AND EVOLUTION OF BIOSPHERES

Abstract

We report a search in cold, quiescent and in hot core type interstellar molecular clouds for the small cyclic molecule oxiranecarbonitrile (C₃H₃NO), which has been suggested as a precursor of important prebiotic molecules. We have determined upper limits to the column density and fractional abundance for the observed sources and find that, typically, the fractional abundance by number relative to molecular hydrogen of C₃H₃NO is less than a few times 10^–10. This limit is one to two orders of magnitude less than the measured abundance of such similarly complex species as CH₃CH₂CN and HCOOCH₃ in well-studied hot cores. A number of astrochemical discoveries were made, including the first detection of the species CH₃CH₂CN in the massive star-forming clouds G34.3+0.2 and W51M and the first astronomical detections of some eight rotational transitions of CH₃CH₂CN, CH₃CCH, and HCOOCH₃. In addition, we found 8 emission lines in the 89 GHz region and 18 in the 102 GHz region which we were unable to assign.

Comments

The published version is located at http://www.springerlink.com/content/v484k25r532g1387/

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01809850

Pages

97-110

Volume

26

Issue

2

Recommended Citation

Dickens, JE; Irvine, William M.; Ohishi, M; Arrhenius, G; Pitsch, S; Bauder, A; Muller, F; and Eschenmoser, A, "A search for interstellar oxiranecarbonitrile (C3H3NO)" (1996). ORIGINS OF LIFE AND EVOLUTION OF BIOSPHERES. 220.
https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01809850