J. Cernicharo, C. Cabezas, R. Fuentetaja, M. Agúndez, B. Tercero, J. Janeiro, M. Juanes, R. I. Kaiser, Y. Endo, A. L. Steber, D. Pérez, C. Pérez, A. Lesarri, N. Marcelino, and P. de Vicente
reported on the
Discovery of Two Cyano Derivatives of Acenaphthylene (C₁₂H₈) in TMC-1 with the QUIJOTE Line Survey
Astron. Astrophys. 690, Art. No. L13 (2024).
The molecular line survey was carried out with the Yebes 40 m radio telescope between 31.0 and 50.4 GHz. The two cyanoacenaphtalene isomers 1- and 5-C₁₂H₇CN were detected while the 3- and 4-C₁₂H₇CN isomers were not detected. While all of the isomers are asymmetric rotors of the prolate type, the detected isomers are more asymmetric (or closer to an oblate top asymmetric rotor). The observations were obtained in the course of the line survey Green Bank Telescope Observations of TMC-1: Hunting for Aromatic Molecules. The data were recorded with very high resolution which resolves, at least in part, the complex velocity structure and the ¹⁴N hyperfine structure splitting. The molecules 1-cyanonaphtalene and 2-cyanonaphtalene were indentified through line-stacking with good signal-to-noise ratios. In fact, after additional observations carried out in the review process, the S/Ns of some lines of 1-cyanonaphtalene were good enough to be identified individually after modest smoothing. Both molecules are obviously not hydrocarbons, but simple hydrocarbon derivatives.

Contributor(s): H. S. P. Müller; 10, 2024