Related papers: A Search for Interstellar CH$_2$D$^+$

Deuteration is a powerful tracer of the history of the cold prestellar phase in star forming regions. Apart from methanol, little is known about deuterium fractionation of complex organic molecules in the interstellar medium, especially in…

We report on the detection of vinyl cyanide (CH2CHCN), cyanomethyl radical (CH2CN), methylacetylene (CH3CCH) and thioformaldehyde (H2CS) in the C-rich star IRC +10216. These species, which are all known to exist in dark clouds, are detected…

We report the first detection in space of the two doubly deuterated isotopologues of methyl acetylene. The species CHD2CCH and CH2DCCD were identified in the dense core L483 through nine and eight, respectively, rotational lines in the…

Deuterated molecules have been detected and studied toward Orion BN/KL in the past decades, mostly with single-dish telescopes. However, high angular resolution data are critical not only for interpreting the spatial distribution of the…

We present a survey of the ortho-H2D+(1_{1,0}-1_{1,1}) line toward a sample of 10 starless cores and 6 protostellar cores, carried out at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory. The high diagnostic power of this line is revealed for the…

In 2003, Kuan, Charnley, and co-workers reported the detection of interstellar glycine (NH2CH2COOH) based on observations of 27 lines in 19 different spectral bands in one or more of the sources Sgr B2(N-LMH), Orion KL, and W51 e1/e2. They…

We use spectra and maps of NH2D, ND2H, and ND3, obtained with the CSO, IRAM 30m and Arecibo telescopes, to study deuteration processes in dense cores. The data include the first detection of the hyperfine structure of ND2H. The emission of…

Young massive stars are usually found embedded in dense massive molecular clumps and are known for being highly obscured and distant. During their formation process, deuteration is regarded as a potentially good indicator of the very early…

High levels of deuterium fraction in N$_2$H$^+$ are observed in some pre-stellar cores. Single-zone chemical models find that the timescale required to reach observed values ($D_{\rm frac}^{{\rm N}_2{\rm H}^+} \equiv {\rm N}_2{\rm D}^+/{\rm…

Context: The depletion of heavy elements in cold cores of interstellar molecular clouds can lead to a situation where deuterated forms of H_3^+ are the most useful spectroscopic probes of the physical conditions. Aims: The aim is to predict…

Aims. We aim to improve a previous model for the prediction of column densities and deuterium fractions of non- and singly deuterated methanol. Thereby, we try to identify crucial chemical and physical parameters, for which the study of…

Glycolaldehyde, a sugar-related interstellar prebiotic molecule, has recently been detected in two star-forming regions, Sgr B2(N) and G31.41+0.31. The detection of this new species increased the list of complex organic molecules detected…

The deuterium fractionation of gas-phase molecules in hot cores is believed to reflect the composition of interstellar ices. The deuteration of methanol is a major puzzle, however, because the isotopologue ratio [CH2DOH]/[CH3OD], which is…

Methanol is an abundant molecule in space. The column density of CH$_3^{18}$OH is in some star-forming regions so high that the search for CH$_3^{17}$OH is promising. But only very few transition frequencies of CH$_3^{17}$OH with a…

The methylidyne cation (CH$^+$) and the methyl cation (CH$_3^+$) are building blocks of organic molecules, yet their coupled formation and excitation mechanisms remain mainly unprobed. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), with its high…

Mono-deuterated methanol is thought to form during the prestellar core stage of star formation. Observed variations in the CH2DOH/CH3OD ratio suggest that its formation is strongly dependent on the surrounding cloud conditions. Thus, it is…

(Abridged) We aim to determine the degrees of CO depletion, deuterium fractionation, and ionisation in a sample of seven massive clumps associated with IRDCs. The APEX telescope was used to observe the C17O(2-1), H13CO+(3-2), DCO+(3-2),…

We report the detection of the 1_{10}-1_{11} ground state transition of ortho-H_2D^+ at 372.421 GHz in emission from the young stellar object NGC 1333 IRAS 4A. Detailed excitation models with a power-law temperature and density structure…

The formation of CH+ in the interstellar medium has long been an outstanding problem in chemical models. In order to probe the physical conditions of the ISM in which CH+ forms, we propose the use of CH3+ observations. The pathway to…

Deuteration is sensitive to environmental conditions in star-forming regions. To investigate NH$_2$D chemistry, we compared the spatial distribution of ortho-NH$_2$D $1_{11}^s-1_{01}^a$, NH$_3$(1,1) and NH$_3$(2,2) in 12 late-stage massive…