Detection of interstellar 1-cyanopyrene: A four-ring polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are organic molecules containing adjacent aromatic rings. Infrared emission bands show that PAHs are abundant in space, but only a few specific PAHs have been detected in the interstellar medium. We detected 1-cyanopyrene, a cyano-substituted derivative of the related four-ring PAH pyrene, in radio observations of the dense cloud TMC-1, using the Green Bank Telescope. The measured column density of 1-cyanopyrene is [Formula: see text] cm<sup>-2</sup>, from which we estimate that pyrene contains up to 0.1% of the carbon in TMC-1. This abundance indicates that interstellar PAH chemistry favors the production of pyrene. We suggest that some of the carbon supplied to young planetary systems is carried by PAHs that originate in cold molecular clouds.
Authors
- Andrew Lipnicky (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6667-7773)
- Mark A. Siebert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8505-4934)
- Edwin A. Bergin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4179-6394)
- Shuo Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2401-9411)
- Alex N. Byrne (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4593-518X)
- Zachary T. P. Fried (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5020-5774)
- H. M. Sen Gupta (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2588-516X)
- Brett A. McGuire (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1254-4817)
- Hannah Toru Shay (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8721-0988)
- Alison E. Wendlandt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2970-9817)
- Anthony J. Remijan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9479-9287)
- Ci Xue (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2760-2119)
- Gabi Wenzel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0332-2641)
- Steven B. Charnley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6752-5109)
- Michael McCarthy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9142-0008)
- Ryan A. Loomis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8932-1219)
- Martin Holdren (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-1171-278X)
- Margaret L. Duffy
- Martin Cordiner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8233-2436)
- D. Archie Stewart (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-1773-8460)
- Andrew M. Burkhardt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0799-0927)
- Christopher N. Shingledecker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5171-7568)
- P. Bryan Changala (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0304-9814)
- Ilsa R. Cooke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0850-7426)
- Reace H. J. Willis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-6372-9926)
Institutions
- Goddard Space Flight Center (US)
- U.S. National Science Foundation (US)
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- Virginia Military Institute (US)
- National Radio Astronomy Observatory (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- Worcester State University (US)
- Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian (US)
- Division of Astronomical Sciences (US)
- University of Virginia (US)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Science
- Published
- 2024-10-24
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adq6391
- Citations
- 92
- Primary Topic
- Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 30.50