V. M. Rivilla, L. Colzi, I. Jiménez-Serra, J. Martín-Pintado, A. Megías, M. Melosso, L. Bizzocchi, Á. López-Gallifa, A. Martínez-Henares, S. Massalkhi, B. Tercero, P. de Vicente, J.-C. Guillemin, J. G. de la Concepción, F. Rico-Villas, S. Zeng, S. Martín, M. A. Requena-Torres, F. Tonolo, S. Alessandrini, L. Dore, V. Barone, and C. Puzzarini
reported on
Precursors of the RNA World in Space: Detection of (Z)-1,2-ethenediol in the Interstellar Medium, a Key Intermediate in Sugar Formation
Astrophys. J. Lett. 920 (2021), Art. No. L27.
The molecule was identified through nine lines of which four appear to be unblended, four are partially blended, and one is fully blended, but the molecule accounts for a large fraction of the emission. Each line consists of a pair of a-type rotation-tunneling transitions having 2 ≤ J ≤ 8 and K_a ≤ 2. The molecule is the enolic and less stable form of glycolaldehyde which is only ~5.2 times more abundant.

Contributor(s): H. S. P. Müller; 04, 2022