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Definition
This triatomic radical plays an important role in the gas phase chemistry of interstellar molecular clouds, since it provides a link in the chemistry of acetylene and higher-order polyacetylenes, the presence of the latter being deduced from observations of the corresponding nitriles (cyanopolyyne). Both carbon-13 and deuterated isotopic variants of C2H are observed in molecular clouds.
History
The fundamental pure rotational transition (N = 1 − 0) of C2H at a frequency of 87 GHz was observed astronomically before corresponding laboratory measurements were available, with the identification resting on the pattern of the four detected hyperfine components (Tucker et al. 1974).
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References and Further Reading
Tucker KD, Kutner ML, Thaddeus P (1974) The ethynyl radical C2H – a new interstellar molecule. Astrophys J 193:L115–L119
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© 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Irvine, W.M. (2015). Ethynyl Radical. In: Gargaud, M., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44185-5_1817
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44185-5_1817
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Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-662-44184-8
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