Rotational spectroscopy of oxirane-\textit{2,2}-$d_2$, $c$-CD$_2$CH$_2$O, and its tentative detection toward IRAS 16293$-$2422~B [GA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2304.12045


We prepared a sample of oxirane doubly deuterated at one C atom and studied its rotational spectrum in the laboratory for the first time between 120~GHz and 1094~GHz. Accurate spectroscopic parameters up to eighth order were determined, and the calculated rest frequencies were used to identify $c$-CD$2$CH$_2$O tentatively in the interstellar medium in the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array Protostellar Interferometric Line Survey (PILS) of the Class 0 protostellar system IRAS 16293$-$2422. The $c$-CD$_2$CH$_2$O to $c$-C$_2$H$_4$O ratio was estimated to be $\sim$0.054 with $T{\rm rot} = 125$ K. This value translates to a D-to-H ratio of $\sim$0.16 per H atom which is higher by a factor of 4.5 than the $\sim$0.036 per H atom obtained for $c$-C$_2$H$_3$DO. Such increase in the degree of deuteration referenced to one H atom in multiply deuterated isotopologs compared to their singly deuterated variants have been observed commonly in recent years.

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H. Müller, J. Jørgensen, J. Guillemin, et. al.
Tue, 25 Apr 23
38/72

Comments: Journal of Molecular Spectroscopy, in press; Per Jensen special issue. 12 pages here