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1. Rotational Spectroscopy and Tentative Interstellar Detection of 3-hydroxypropanal (HOCH ₂ CH ₂ CHO) in the G+0.693-0.027 Molecular Cloud

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adfc62  

   Fried, Zachary_T P; Motiyenko, Roman A; Sanz-Novo, Miguel; Kolesniková, Lucie; Guillemin, Jean-Claude; Margulès, Laurent; Uhlíková, Tereza; Belloche, Arnaud; Jørgensen, Jes K; Holdren, Martin S; et al (October 2025, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract We synthesized the astrochemically relevant molecule 3-hydroxypropanal (HOCH₂CH₂CHO) and subsequently measured and analyzed its rotational spectrum in several frequency regions ranging from 130 to 485 GHz. We analyzed the ground vibrational state as well as the two perturbed lowest-lying vibrationally excited states. With the resulting rotational parameters, we searched for this molecule in the Sagittarius B2(N) and NGC 6334I hot cores, the IRAS 16293-2422B hot corino, and the G+0.693-0.027 and TMC-1 molecular clouds. Rotational emission of 3-hydroxypropanal was tentatively detected toward G+0.693-0.027, and a column density of (8.6 ±1.4) × 10¹²cm⁻²was determined. However, this molecule was not detected in the other sources that were investigated. The chemical implications of this tentative discovery are analyzed, and several potential chemical formation pathways of this species are discussed. 

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2. Astronomical Detection of the Interstellar Anion C ₁₀ H ⁻ toward TMC-1 from the GOTHAM Large Program on the Green Bank Telescope

   https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acb648  

   Remijan, Anthony; Scolati, Haley N.; Burkhardt, Andrew M.; Changala, P. Bryan; Charnley, Steven B.; Cooke, Ilsa R.; Cordiner, Martin A.; Gupta, Harshal; Herbst, Eric; Kelvin Lee, Kin Long; et al (February 2023, The Astrophysical Journal Letters)

   Abstract Using data from the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) Observations of TMC-1: Hunting for Aromatic Molecules (GOTHAM) survey, we report the first astronomical detection of the C 10 H − anion. The astronomical observations also provided the necessary data to refine the spectroscopic parameters of C 10 H − . From the velocity stacked data and the matched filter response, C 10 H − is detected at >9 σ confidence level at a column density of 4.04 − 2.23 + 10.67 × 10 11 cm −2 . A dedicated search for the C 10 H radical was also conducted toward TMC-1. In this case, the stacked molecular emission of C 10 H was detected at a ∼3.2 σ confidence interval at a column density of 2.02 − 0.82 + 2.68 × 10 11 cm −2 . However, as the determined confidence level is currently <5 σ , we consider the identification of C 10 H as tentative. The full GOTHAM data set was also used to better characterize the physical parameters including column density, excitation temperature, line width, and source size for the C 4 H, C 6 H, and C 8 H radicals and their respective anions, and the measured column densities were compared to the predictions from a gas/grain chemical formation model and from a machine learning analysis. Given the measured values, the C 10 H − /C 10 H column density ratio is ∼ 2.0 − 1.6 + 5.9 —the highest value measured between an anion and neutral species to date. Such a high ratio is at odds with current theories for interstellar anion chemistry. For the radical species, both models can reproduce the measured abundances found from the survey; however, the machine learning analysis matches the detected anion abundances much better than the gas/grain chemical model, suggesting that the current understanding of the formation chemistry of molecular anions is still highly uncertain. 

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3. On the formation and the isomer specific detection of methylacetylene (CH ₃ CCH), propene (CH ₃ CHCH ₂ ), cyclopropane (c-C ₃ H ₆ ), vinylacetylene (CH ₂ CHCCH), and 1,3-butadiene (CH ₂ CHCHCH ₂ ) from interstellar methane ice analogues

   https://doi.org/10.1039/C8CP03921F  

   Abplanalp, Matthew J.; Góbi, Sándor; Kaiser, Ralf I. (March 2019, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics)

   Pure methane (CH 4 ) ices processed by energetic electrons under ultra-high vacuum conditions to simulate secondary electrons formed via galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) penetrating interstellar ice mantles have been shown to produce an array of complex hydrocarbons with the general formulae: C n H 2n+2 ( n = 4–8), C n H 2n ( n = 3–9), C n H 2n−2 ( n = 3–9), C n H 2n−4 ( n = 4–9), and C n H 2n−6 ( n = 6–7). By monitoring the in situ chemical evolution of the ice combined with temperature programmed desorption (TPD) studies and tunable single photon ionization coupled to a reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometer, specific isomers of C 3 H 4 , C 3 H 6 , C 4 H 4 , and C 4 H 6 were probed. These experiments confirmed the synthesis of methylacetylene (CH 3 CCH), propene (CH 3 CHCH 2 ), cyclopropane (c-C 3 H 6 ), vinylacetylene (CH 2 CHCCH), 1-butyne (HCCC 2 H 5 ), 2-butyne (CH 3 CCCH 3 ), 1,2-butadiene (H 2 CCCH(CH 3 )), and 1,3-butadiene (CH 2 CHCHCH 2 ) with yields of 2.17 ± 0.95 × 10 −4 , 3.7 ± 1.5 × 10 −3 , 1.23 ± 0.77 × 10 −4 , 1.28 ± 0.65 × 10 −4 , 4.01 ± 1.98 × 10 −5 , 1.97 ± 0.98 × 10 −4 , 1.90 ± 0.84 × 10 −5 , and 1.41 ± 0.72 × 10 −4 molecules eV −1 , respectively. Mechanistic studies exploring the formation routes of methylacetylene, propene, and vinylacetylene were also conducted, and revealed the additional formation of the 1,2,3-butatriene isomer. Several of the above isomers, methylacetylene, propene, vinylacetylene, and 1,3-butadiene, have repeatedly been shown to be important precursors in the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), but until now their interstellar synthesis has remained elusive. 

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4. Mechanistical study on the formation of hydroxyacetone (CH ₃ COCH ₂ OH), methyl acetate (CH ₃ COOCH ₃ ), and 3-hydroxypropanal (HCOCH ₂ CH ₂ OH) along with their enol tautomers (prop-1-ene-1,2-diol (CH ₃ C(OH)CHOH), prop-2-ene-1,2-diol (CH ₂ C(OH)CH ₂ OH), 1-methoxyethen-1-ol (CH ₃ OC(OH)CH ₂ ) and prop-1-ene-1,3-diol (HOCH ₂ CHCHOH)) in interstellar ice analogs

   https://doi.org/10.1039/d2cp03543j  

   Wang, Jia; Marks, Joshua H.; Turner, Andrew M.; Nikolayev, Anatoliy A.; Azyazov, Valeriy; Mebel, Alexander M.; Kaiser, Ralf I. (January 2023, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics)

   We unravel, for the very first time, the formation pathways of hydroxyacetone (CH 3 COCH 2 OH), methyl acetate (CH 3 COOCH 3 ), and 3-hydroxypropanal (HCOCH 2 CH 2 OH), as well as their enol tautomers within mixed ices of methanol (CH 3 OH) and acetaldehyde (CH 3 CHO) analogous to interstellar ices in the ISM exposed to ionizing radiation at ultralow temperatures of 5 K. Exploiting photoionization reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PI-ReToF-MS) and isotopically labeled ices, the reaction products were selectively photoionized allowing for isomer discrimination during the temperature-programmed desorption phase. Based on the distinct mass-to-charge ratios and ionization energies of the identified species, we reveal the formation pathways of hydroxyacetone (CH 3 COCH 2 OH), methyl acetate (CH 3 COOCH 3 ), and 3-hydroxypropanal (HCOCH 2 CH 2 OH) via radical–radical recombination reactions and of their enol tautomers (prop-1-ene-1,2-diol (CH 3 C(OH)CHOH), prop-2-ene-1,2-diol (CH 2 C(OH)CH 2 OH), 1-methoxyethen-1-ol (CH 3 OC(OH)CH 2 ) and prop-1-ene-1,3-diol (HOCH 2 CHCHOH)) via keto-enol tautomerization. To the best of our knowledge, 1-methoxyethen-1-ol (CH 3 OC(OH)CH 2 ) and prop-1-ene-1,3-diol (HOCH 2 CHCHOH) are experimentally identified for the first time. Our findings help to constrain the formation mechanism of hydroxyacetone and methyl acetate detected within star-forming regions and suggest that the hitherto astronomically unobserved isomer 3-hydroxypropanal and its enol tautomers represent promising candidates for future astronomical searches. These enol tautomers may contribute to the molecular synthesis of biologically relevant molecules in deep space due to their nucleophilic character and high reactivity. 

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5. A chemical dynamics study of the reaction of the methylidyne radical (CH, X ² Π) with dimethylacetylene (CH ₃ CCCH ₃ , X ¹ A _1g )

   https://doi.org/10.1039/D1CP04443E  

   He, Chao; Fujioka, Kazuumi; Nikolayev, Anatoliy A.; Zhao, Long; Doddipatla, Srinivas; Azyazov, Valeriy N.; Mebel, Alexander M.; Sun, Rui; Kaiser, Ralf I. (December 2021, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics)

   The gas-phase reaction of the methylidyne (CH; X 2 Π) radical with dimethylacetylene (CH 3 CCCH 3 ; X 1 A 1g ) was studied at a collision energy of 20.6 kJ mol −1 under single collision conditions with experimental results merged with ab initio calculations of the potential energy surface (PES) and ab initio molecule dynamics (AIMD) simulations. The crossed molecular beam experiment reveals that the reaction proceeds barrierless via indirect scattering dynamics through long-lived C 5 H 7 reaction intermediate(s) ultimately dissociating to C 5 H 6 isomers along with atomic hydrogen with atomic hydrogen predominantly released from the methyl groups as verified by replacing the methylidyne with the D1-methylidyne reactant. AIMD simulations reveal that the reaction dynamics are statistical leading predominantly to p28 (1-methyl-3-methylenecyclopropene, 13%) and p8 (1-penten-3-yne, 81%) plus atomic hydrogen with a significant amount of available energy being channeled into the internal excitation of the polyatomic reaction products. The dynamics are controlled by addition to the carbon–carbon triple bond with the reaction intermediates eventually eliminating a hydrogen atom from the methyl groups of the dimethylacetylene reactant forming 1-methyl-3-methylenecyclopropene (p28). The dominating pathways reveal an unexpected insertion of methylidyne into one of the six carbon–hydrogen single bonds of the methyl groups of dimethylacetylene leading to the acyclic intermediate, which then decomposes to 1-penten-3-yne (p8). Therefore, the methyl groups of dimethylacetylene effectively ‘screen’ the carbon–carbon triple bond from being attacked by addition thus directing the dynamics to an insertion process as seen exclusively in the reaction of methylidyne with ethane (C 2 H 6 ) forming propylene (CH 3 C 2 H 3 ). Therefore, driven by the screening of the triple bond, one propynyl moiety (CH 3 CC) acts in four out of five trajectories as a spectator thus driving an unexpected, but dominating chemistry in analogy to the methylidyne – ethane system. 

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