Astrochemistry

Laboratory Rotational Spectroscopy And Astronomical Search Of Ethynyl Substituted Naphthalene

By Keith Cowing
Press Release
astro-ph.GA
December 14, 2022
Filed under , , , , ,
Laboratory Rotational Spectroscopy And Astronomical Search Of Ethynyl Substituted Naphthalene
Molecular structures and carbon atom labelling of the two isomers of ethynylnaphthalene. The a (red) and b (green) principal inertial axes are shown. The c axis is perpendicular to the molecular plane. – astro-ph.GA

The recent interstellar detection of cyanonaphthalenes bring interest in related aromatic molecular species that could be present in similar astronomical environments.

In this context, ethynyl derivatives of naphthalene are promising candidates to be observed in the Taurus Molecular Cloud (TMC-1), where cyanonaphthalenes together with cyano- and ethynyl- derivatives of cyclopentadiene and benzene have been detected.

To enable the interstellar searches for ethynyl derivatives of naphthalene, their pure rotational spectra need to be investigated in the laboratory. We have observed for the first time the rotational spectra of 1- and 2-ethynylnaphthalene species using a broadband Fourier-transform microwave spectrometer operating in the 2-8 GHz frequency region.

Accurate spectroscopic parameters are derived from the analysis of the experimental spectra, allowing for reliable predictions for astronomical searches. Our searches in TMC-1 for both isomers provide upper limits for the abundances of these species.

Carlos Cabezas, Isabel Peña, José Cernicharo

Comments: Accepted 2022 December 13 in MNRAS
Subjects: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
Cite as: arXiv:2212.06876 [astro-ph.GA] (or arXiv:2212.06876v1 [astro-ph.GA] for this version)
Submission history
From: Carlos Cabezas
[v1] Tue, 13 Dec 2022 19:45:56 UTC (1,866 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.06876
Astrobiology, Astrochemistry

Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻