Electronic spectroscopy of 1-cyanonaphthalene cation for astrochemical consideration

¹ School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh, Joseph Black Building, Kings Buildings, David Brewster Road, Edinburgh EH9 3FJ, UK
e-mail: e.k.campbell@ed.ac.uk
² Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d’Orsay, 91405 Orsay, France
e-mail: ugo.jacovella@universite-paris-saclay.fr

Received: 15 June 2023
Accepted: 14 August 2023

Abstract

Context. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are believed to be the carriers of the aromatic infrared bands and have been proposed as candidates to explain other astronomical phenomena such as diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs). The first aromatic structures possessing more than one ring, 1- and 2-cyanonaphthalene (CNN), were recently detected by rotational spectroscopy in the dense molecular cloud TMC-1. Laboratory investigations have indicated that due to fast and efficient relaxation through recurrent fluorescence (RF), CNN⁺ may be photostable in the harsh conditions of the lower density, more diffuse regions of the interstellar medium (ISM) exposed to ultraviolet (UV) radiation. As a result, it has been suggested that the widely held belief that small PAHs present in these regions are dissociated may need to be revisited. If 1-CNN⁺ is able to survive in the diffuse ISM it may contribute to the population of 1-CNN observed in TMC-1. To investigate the abundance of 1-CNN⁺ in diffuse clouds, laboratory spectroscopy is required. The present work concerns the electronic spectroscopy of 1-CNN⁺ in absorption and the search for its spectroscopic fingerprints in diffuse clouds.

Aims. The aim is to obtain laboratory data on the electronic transitions of gas-phase 1-CNN⁺ under conditions appropriate for comparison with DIBs and assess abundance in diffuse clouds.

Methods. Spectroscopic experiments are carried out using a cryogenic ion trapping apparatus in which gas-phase 1-CNN⁺ is cooled to temperatures below 10 K through buffer gas cooling. Calculations are carried out using time-dependent density-functional theory.

Results. Experimental and theoretical data on the D₂ ← D₀ and D₃ ← D₀ electronic transitions of 1-CNN⁺ are reported. The former transition has a calculated oscillator strength of f = 0.075 and possesses a pattern dominated by its origin band. The origin band is located at 7343 Å and has a full width at half maximum of 28 Å. In observational data, this falls in a region polluted by telluric water lines, hindering assessment of its abundance.

Conclusions. Space-based observations are required to search for the spectroscopic signatures of 1-CNN⁺ and evaluate the hypothesis that this small aromatic system, stabilised by RF, may be able to survive in regions of the ISM exposed to UV photons.