G. Wenzel, I. R. Cooke, P. B. Changala, E. A. Bergin, S. Zhang, A. M. Burkhardt, A. N. Byrne, S. B. Charnley, M. A. Cordiner, M. Duffy, Z. T. P. Fried, H. Gupta, M. S. Holdren, A. Lipnicky, R. A. Loomis, H. T. Shay, C. N. Shingledecker, M. A. Siebert, D. A. Stewart, R. H. J. Willis, C. Xue, A. J. Remijan, A. E. Wendlandt, M. C. McCarthy, and B. A. McGuire
reported on the
Detection of Interstellar 1-Cyanopyrene: A Four-ring Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon
Science 386, 810−813 (2024).
The molecule was identified in the course of the GOTHAM survey of TMC-1 casrried out with the 100 m GBT dish. Several oblate paired a-type rotational transitions with 31 ≤ J ≤ 37 and Kc close to J. Each pair of lines is close to the noise limit, but stacking achieves a S/N of about 7. The derived column density is, for example, about twice that of each of 1- and 2-cyanonaphtalene and only slightly less than that of benzonitrile.
The CfA issued a press release.
G. Wenzel, T. H. Speak, P. B. Changala, R. H. J. Willis, A. M. Burkhardt, S. Zhang, E. A. Bergin, A. N. Byrne, S. B. Charnley, Z. T. P. Fried, H. Gupta, E. Herbst, M. S. Holdren, A. Lipnicky, R. A. Loomis, C. N. Shingledecker, C. Xue, A. J. Remijan, A. E. Wendlandt, M. C. McCarthy, I. R. Cooke, and B. A. McGuire
announced the
Detections of Interstellar Aromatic Nitriles 2-Cyanopyrene and 4-Cyanopyrene in TMC-1
Nat. Atron. 9, 262−270 (2025).
The isomers of 1-cyanopyrene were detected in a manner very similar to this one. The derived column densities of 1-cyanopyrene : 2-cyanopyrene : 4-cyanopyrene are compatible with the 4 : 2 : 4 ratios of the number of equivalent substitution positions in pyrene.
Contributor(s): H. S. P. Müller; 11, 2024; 02, 2025