Isotopic ethyl cyanide CHCHCN, CHCHCN, and CHCHCN: laboratory rotational spectrum and detection in Orion ^*,**

¹ Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers, Atomes et Molécules, UMR CNRS 8523, Université Lille 1, 59655 Villeneuve d'Ascq Cedex, France e-mail: Karine.demyk@univ-lille1.fr
² Universität Kiel, Institut fuer Physikalische Chemie Olshausenstrasse 40, 24098 Kiel, Germany
³ Departamento de Astrofísica Molecular e Infrarroja, Instituto de Estructura de la Materia, CSIC, Calle Serrano 121, 28006 Madrid, Spain

Received: 18 December 2006
Accepted: 23 January 2007

Abstract

Context.Astronomical spectra of hot molecular clouds in the wavelength range from centimeter to submillimeter show a huge number of rotational lines due to the emission of complex organic molecules, and a large fraction of these lines are unidentified. The assignment of these unidentified lines to new molecules, to known molecules in excited states, or to their isotopologues requires a good knowledge of the spectroscopic parameters of these molecules.

Aims.We present the experimental study of the spectroscopic properties of ¹³C-substituted ethyl cyanide ¹³CH₃CH₂CN, CH₃¹³CH₂CN, and CH₃CH₂¹³CN.

Methods.The rotational spectra of the three species in the ground state have been measured in the frequency ranges from 5 to 26 GHz using waveguide Fourier transform spectrometers and from 160 to 360 GHz using a source-modulated spectrometer employing backward-wave oscillators (BWOs).

Results.A new accurate set of spectroscopic constants has been determined for each isotopic species. This permits prediction of the position of rotational lines that are best suited for detection with an accuracy of a few hundreds of kHz. The three isotopologues have been detected in an Orion IRc2 IRAM survey via several hundred of lines, illustrating that many “unidentified” bands are definitely due to isotopologues of known molecules.