Interstellar clouds, phosphorus

The detection of phosphine in Jupiter s atmosphere and the search for molecules containing phosphorus in interstellar clouds have stimulated interest in the gas-phase positive ion-molecule chemistry of phosphorus and its compounds. The results of laboratory experiments using mass spectrometric techniques have been used to develop models of phosphorus chemistry in interstellar clouds. ... 

The formation of molecules containing phosphorus in interstellar clouds from reactions of PH with gaseous molecules via ions of phosphorus compounds was discussed in [45,46] and less extensively in [43]. 

A search for PHg in interstellar and circumstellar sources is described and the results are discussed with respect to the depletion of P in dense and diffuse interstellar clouds [62]. Laboratory experiments on the gas-phase ion-molecule chemistry of phosphorus using the ion cyclotron resonance technique predicted that the PHg molecule is formed only with difficulty in dense interstellar clouds [63]. 

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