User:Coyote fooled

History
The astronomical detection of c-C3H2 was first comfimed by Thaddeus et. al in 1985. Four years earlier, several ambiguous lines had been observed in the radio region of spectra taken of the ISM, but the observed lines were not identified at the time. Thaddeus et. al. were later able to match these lines up with a spectrum of c-C3H2 using an acetylene-helium discharge. Suprisingly, c-C3H2 has been found to be ubiquitous in the ISM. Detections of c-C3H2 in the diffuse medium were particularly suprising because of the low densities. It had been believed that the chemistry of the diffuse medium did not allow for the formation of larger molecules, but this discovery, as well as the discovery of other large molecules, continue to illuminate the complexity of the diffuse medium. More recently, observations of c-C3H2 in dense clouds have also found concentrations that are significantly higher than expected. This has lead to the hypothesis that the photodissociation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) enhances the formation of c-C3H2.

Formation
The major formation reaction of c-C3H2 is the dissociative recombination of C3H3+.


 * C3H3+ + e- →  C3H2 + H

c-C3H3+ is a product of a long chain of carbon chemistry that occurs in the ISM. The synthesis of c-C3H3+ in the ISM is expected to be dependent on the presence of acetylene.

Destruction
Cyclopropenylidene is generally destroyed by reactions between ions and neutral molecules. Of these, protonation reactions are the most common. Any species of the type HX+ can react to convert the c-C3H2 back to c-C3H3+. Due to rate constant and concentration considerations, the most important reactants for the destruction of c-C3H2 are HCO+, H3+, and H3O+.


 * C3H2 + HCO+ →  C3H3+ + CO

Notice that c-C3H2 is mostly destroyed by converting it back to c-C3H3+. Since the major destruction pathways only regenerate the major parent molecule, c-C3H2 is essentially a dead end in terms of interstellar carbon chemistry. However, in diffuse clouds or in the photodissociation region (PDR) of dense clouds, the reaction with C+ becomes much more significant and c-C3H2 can begin to contribute to the formation of larger organic molecules.

Spectroscopy


Detections of c-C3H2 in the ISM rely on observations of molecular transitions using rotational spectroscopy. Since c-C3H2 is an asymmetric top, the rotational energy levels are split and the spectrum becomes complicated. Also, it should be noticed that C3H2 has spin isomers much like the spin isomers of hydrogen. These ortho and para forms exist in a 3:1 ratio and should be thought of as distinct molecules. Although the ortho and para forms look identical chemically, the energy levels are different, meaning that the molecules have different spectroscopic transitions.

When observing c-C3H2 in the interstellar medium, there are only certain transitions that can be seen. In general, only a few lines are available for use in astronomical detection. Many lines are unobservable because they are absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere. The only lines that can be observed are those that fall in the radio window. The more commonly observed lines are the 110 to 101 transition at 18343 MHz and the 212 to 101 transition at 85338 MHz of para c-C3H2.