Carbon monoxide, interstellar molecules

The darkness associated with dense interstellar clouds is caused by dust particles of size =0.1 microns, which are a common ingredient in interstellar and circum-stellar space, taking up perhaps 1% of the mass of interstellar clouds with a fractional number density of 10-12. These particles both scatter and absorb external visible and ultraviolet radiation from stars, protecting molecules in dense clouds from direct photodissociation via external starlight. They are rather less protective in the infrared, and are quite transparent in the microwave.6 The chemical nature of the dust particles is not easy to ascertain compared with the chemical nature of the interstellar gas broad spectral features in the infrared have been interpreted in terms of core-mantle particles, with the cores consisting of two populations, one of silicates and one of carbonaceous, possibly graphitic material. The mantles, which appear to be restricted to dense clouds, are probably a mixture of ices such as water, carbon monoxide, and methanol.7... 

A fifth success concerns carbon monoxide, the dominant interstellar molecule from an observer s point of view. Despite all the uncertainties and problems with the model calculations, which will be amply brought out in this review, the predicted fractional abundance of CO is large and in the range of 10"5 to 10-4, in excellent agreement with observation. 

Carbon monoxide carbo-mers [5-7], i.e., monoxides of linear odd carbon chains longer than one C 0 n = 3, 5, 7, 9...), are highly reactive molecules suggested as potential constituents of interstellar and circumstellar gas clouds. Considerations based on MO theory and quantum chemical calculations indicate that, similar to pure odd carbon chains, all these heterocumulenes are singlet carbenes in the ground state [93]. Since its matrix isolation in 1971 [94] and its synthesis in gas phase in 1983 [95], the simplest member of this family, i.e., tricarbon monoxide C3O, has been extensively studied both experimentally and theoretically [96-102], and its interstellar presence fully confirmed [103]. In particular, on the basis of... 

What effect do shocks have on the gas phase synthesis of complex interstellar molecules This question has been investigated at least for hydrocarbons through six carbon atoms in complexity by Mitchell (1983, 1984). He has found that if a shock passes through a dense cloud where much of the carbon is already in the form of carbon monoxide, complex hydrocarbons are not formed in high abundance. However, if a shock passes through a diffuse cloud, of density approximately 103 cm-3, where much of the cosmic abundance of carbon is in the form of C+ and to a lesser extent C, a different scenario is present. As the shock cools, the C+ and C, which remain in appreciable abundance for up to 10s yrs after the shock passage, react via many of the reactions discussed above as well as others to produce a rich hydrocarbon chemistry. The net effect is that large abundances of hydrocarbons build up as the cloud cools and eventually reaches a gas density of 3 x 104 cm-3. Do these results bear any relation to the results obtained from ambient gas phase models In both types of calculations, hydrocarbon chemistry appears to require the presence of C+ and/or C both to synthesize one-carbon hydrocarbons such as methane and then, via insertion reactions, to produce more complex hydrocarbon species. Condensation reactions do not appear to be sufficient. 

The polycarbon monoxide C3O and polycarbon monosulphides C2S and C3S are some of the latest molecules which have been detected In Interstellar space (1, 23). They point toward the extraterrestrial existence of families of carbon-chain molecules of the type C O and C S. Laboratory measurements suggest that a number of lon/molecule pathways are available for their formation In the gas phase. 

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