INTERSTELLAR CYANOMETHANE
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Abstract
An observational study was made of the newly identified cyanomethane radical CH2CN and the possibly related species CH3CN with the goals of elucidating the possible role of reactions of the type CnHm(+) + N in astrochemistry, and providing a possible test of Bates's models of dissociative electron recombination. A remarkably different abundance ratio CH2CN/CH3CN was found in TMC-1 and Sgr B2 which is deduced to be a result of the large difference in temperature of these objects. Studies of CH2CN and CH3CN in other sources, including two new detections of CH2CN, support this conclusion and are consistent with a monotonic increase in the CH2CN/CH3CN ratio with decreasing temperature over the range 10-120 K. This behavior may be explained by the destruction of CH2CN by reaction with O.
Type
article
article
article
Date
1990