Detection of E-cyanomethanimine towards Sagittarius B2(N) in the Green Bank Telescope PRIMOS Survey

Abstract

The detection E-cyanomethanimine (E-HNCHCN) towards Sagittarius B2(N) is made by comparing the publicly available Green Bank Telescope (GBT) PRIMOS survey spectra (Hollis et al.) to laboratory rotational spectra from a reaction product screening experiment. The experiment uses broadband molecular rotational spectroscopy to monitor the reaction products produced in an electric discharge source using a gas mixture of NH3 and CH3CN. Several transition frequency coincidences between the reaction product screening spectra and previously unassigned interstellar rotational transitions in the PRIMOS survey have been assigned to E cyanomethanimine. A total of 8 molecular rotational transitions of this molecule between 9 and 50 GHz are observed with the GBT. E-cyanomethanimine, often called the HCN dimer, is an important molecule in prebiotic chemistry because it is a chemical intermediate in proposed synthetic routes of adenine, one of the two purine nucleobases found in DNA and RNA. New analyses of the rotational spectra of both E-cyanomethanimine and Z-cyanomethanimine that incorporate previous mm-wave measurements are also reported.

arXiv comment15 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, ApJL accepted

References in corpus (6)

• Detection of amino acetonitrile in Sgr B2(N)
• Increased complexity in interstellar chemistry: Detection and chemical modeling of ethyl formate and n-propyl cyanide in Sgr B2(N)
• The Detection of Interstellar Ethanimine (CH3CHNH) from Observations taken during the GBT PRIMOS Survey
• Interstellar Isomers: The Importance of Bonding Energy Differences
• Interstellar Carbodiimide (HNCNH) - A New Astronomical Detection from the GBT PRIMOS Survey via Maser Emission Features
• A Spectral Line Survey of Selected 3 mm Bands Toward Sagittarius B2(N-LMH) Using the NRAO 12 Meter Radio Telescope and the BIMA Array I. The Observational Data

Cited by in corpus (37)

• 2021 Census of Interstellar, Circumstellar, Extragalactic, Protoplanetary Disk, and Exoplanetary Molecules
• 2018 Census of Interstellar, Circumstellar, Extragalactic, Protoplanetary Disk, and Exoplanetary Molecules
• Discovery of the Interstellar Chiral Molecule Propylene Oxide (CH${}_3$CHCH${}_2$O)
• Molecular excitation in the Interstellar Medium: recent advances in collisional, radiative and chemical processes
• Exploring molecular complexity with ALMA (EMoCA): Alkanethiols and alkanols in Sagittarius B2(N2)
• Herschel observations of EXtraordinary Sources: Analysis of the full Herschel/HIFI molecular line survey of Sagittarius B2(N)
• Abundant Z-cyanomethanimine in the interstellar medium: paving the way to the synthesis of adenine
• Aromatics and Cyclic Molecules in Molecular Clouds: A New Dimension of Interstellar Organic Chemistry
• Propargylimine in the laboratory and in space: millimetre-wave spectroscopy and first detection in the ISM
• Investigating the Minimum Energy Principle in Searches for New Molecular Species - the Case of H${}_2$C${}_3$O Isomers
• Observational Results of a Multi-Telescope Campaign in Search of Interstellar Urea [(NH${}_2$)${}_2$CO]
• An unbiased ALMA spectral survey of the LkCa 15 and MWC 480 protoplanetary disks
• Isomers in Interstellar Environments (I): The Case of Z- and E-Cyanomethanimine
• First detection in space of the high-energy isomer of cyanomethanimine: H2CNCN
• Weak maser emission of methyl formate toward Sagittarius B2(N) in the Green Bank Telescope PRIMOS Survey
• An ATCA Survey of Sagittarius~B2 at 7~mm: Chemical Complexity Meets Broadband Interferometry
• Laboratory measurements and astronomical search for cyanomethanimine
• The Role of State-of-the-Art Quantum-Chemical Calculations in Astrochemistry: Formation Route and Spectroscopy of Ethanimine as a Paradigmatic Case
• Methanimine as a key precursor of imines in the interstellar medium: the case of propargylimine
• The prebiotic molecular inventory of Serpens SMM1 I. An investigation of the isomers CH${}_3$NCO and HOCH${}_2$CN
• A theoretical investigation of the reaction between the amidogen, NH, and the ethyl, C2H5, radicals: a possible gas-phase formation route of interstellar and planetary ethanimine
• Molecular Polymorphism: Microwave Spectra, Equilibrium Structures, and an Astronomical Investigation of the HNCS Isomeric Family
• New molecular species at redshift z=0.89
• A Centimeter-wave Study of Methanol and Ammonia Isotopologues in Sgr B2(N): Physical and chemical differentiation between two hot cores
• Vibrational Satellites of C${}_2$S, C${}_3$S, and C${}_4$S: Microwave Spectral Taxonomy as a Stepping Stone to the Millimeter-Wave Band
• Low Pressure EUV Photochemical Experiments: Insight on the Ion-Chemistry Occurring in Titan's Atmosphere
• Chemical modeling of the complex organic molecules in the extended region around Sagittarius B2
• Reexploring Molecular Complexity with ALMA: Insights into chemical differentiation from the molecular composition of hot cores in Sgr B2(N2)
• The Search for a Complex Molecule in a Selected Hot Core Region: A Rigorous Attempt to Confirm trans-Ethyl Methyl Ether toward W51 e1/e2
• Observations and Analysis of Absorption Lines including J = K Rotational Levels of CH3CN: The Envelope of Sagittarius B2(M)
• Density Functional Theory Calculations on the Interstellar Formation of Biomolecules
• High Resolution Laboratory Spectroscopy
• A high-resolution spectroscopic analysis of aminoacrylonitrile and an interstellar search towards G+0.693
• Millimeter-wave spectrum of 2-propanimine
• The LMT 2 millimeter receiver system (B4R). II. Science demonstration observations toward Orion-KL/OMC-1
• What microwave astronomical spectroscopy can tell you about the carriers of the DIBS
• Rotational Spectra and Search for Aromatic Imines: 9-Iminofluorene and Benzophenone imine