molecules:ism:formic_acid [CDMS classic documentation]

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===== Formic Acid in the ISM =====

Formic acid, HC(O)OH, seems to be a fairly typical hot core molecule that is quite abundant. The 1<sub>11</sub> – 1<sub>10</sub> transition of this molecule was the first one to be detected – toward the massive star-forming region Sgr B2 near the Galactic center:\\
B. Zuckerman, J. A. Ball, and C. A. Gottlieb,\\
**[[https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1971ApJ...163L..41Z|Microwave Detection of Interstellar Formic Acid]]**\\
//Astrophys. J.// **163**, L41–L45 (1971);\\
the detection of a second transition was reported by\\
G. Winnewisser and E. Churchwell,\\
**[[https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1975ApJ...200L..33W|Detection of Formic Acid in Sagittarius B2 by its 2<sub>11</sub> – 2<sub>12</sub> Transition]]**\\
//Astrophys. J.// **200**, L33–L36 (1975).

However, the detection of formic acid in a dark cloud was also reported:\\
W. M. Irvine, P. Friberg, N. Kaifu, H. E. Matthews, Y. C. Minh, M. Ohishi, and S. Ishikawa,\\
**[[https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1990A%26A...229L...9I|Detection of Formic Acid in the Cold, Dark Cloud L134N]]**\\
//Astron. Astrophys.// **229**, L9–L12 (1990).

Therefore, the detection of the molecule toward a low-mass proto-star is not so surprising:\\
S. Cazaux, A. G. G. M. Tielens, C. Ceccarelli, A. Castets, V. Wakelam, E. Caux, B. Parise, D. Teyssier,\\
**[[https://doi.org/10.1086/378038|The Hot Core around the Low-mass Protostar IRAS 16293-2422: Scoundrels Rule!]]**\\
//Astrophys. J.// **593**, L51–L55 (2003).\\


The same holds for the detection of the molecule in several Galactic center molecular clouds which have low dust temperatures (10–20 K), even lower rotational temperatures (around 10 K), which are moderately dense (a few tenthousand molecules per cubic centimeter), but which are kinetically moderately warm (about 100 K or more). Two transitions were detected with the IRAM 30 m telescope in the 3 mm range by\\
M. A. Requena-Torres, J. Martín-Pintado, A. Rodríguez-Franco, S. Martín, N. J. Rodríguez-Fernández, and P. de Vicente,\\
**[[https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20065190|Organic Molecules in the Galactic Center – Hot Core Chemistry without Hot Cores]]**\\
//Astron. Astrophys.// **455**, 971–985 (2006).

S. Cuadrado, J. R. Goicoechea, O. Roncero, A. Aguado, B. Tercero, and J. Cernicharo\\
reported on the\\
**[[https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201629913|//Trans-cis// Molecular Photoswitching in Interstellar Space]]**\\
//Astron. Astrophys.// **596**, Art. No. L1 (2016).\\
The authors used the IRAM 30 m telescope in the 3 mm region to search for //trans//-HCOOH as well as //cis//-HCOOH at different positions of the Orion Bar PDR. The //cis//-HCOOH conformer is about 1960 K higher in energy than the //trans// conformer, and the barrier to coversion from //trans// to //cis// is about 7000 K. The //trans// conformer was found to be widespread whereas the first detection of the //cis// conformer conformer was limited to the interface region in which the densities are already quite high, but still enough UV radiation penetrates the ISM. There are indications that the conversion is mediated by UV radiation via an electronically excited state of formic acid.

J. K. Jørgensen, H. S. P. Müller, H. Calcutt, A. Coutens, M. N. Drozdovskaya, K. I. Öberg, M. V. Persson, V. Taquet, E. F. van Dishoeck, and S. F. Wampfler\\
reported on\\
**[[https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201731667|The ALMA-PILS Survey: Isotopic Composition of Oxygen-containing Complex Organic Molecules toward IRAS 16293–2422B]]**\\
//Astron. Astrophys.// **620**, Art. No. A170 (2018).\\
The results were obtained in the course of a line survey of the solar-type protostellar binary IRAS 16293–2422 with ALMA covering the frequency range 329.1–362.9 GHz. The authors only investigated source B. They detected for the first time unambiguosly <sup>13</sup>C isotopolog as well as both mono-deuterated isotopomers. The D/H ratio per H atom is about 0.02. Many lines of the main isotopic species were optically thick; the local ISM <sup>12</sup>C/<sup>13</sup>C ratio of 68 was assumed. Formic acid is among the molecules with warmer rotational temperatures of around 300 K in that hot corino.


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Contributor(s): H. S. P. Müller; 2002; 02, 2007; 05, 2009; 07, 2012; 11, 2016; 01, 2019

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