The Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory

Current Research In observations with the NRAO 12m telescope at Kitt Peak, Arizona, Irvine, graduate student D. McGonagle, and colleagues from Japan have detected a new interstellar radical, CHIN. This identification is important for the study of hydrogenation processes in the interstellar medium. In particular, although the abundance of hydrogen is some four orders of magnitude higher than that of other reactive elements in this environment, many organic molecules in quiescent clouds are very unsaturated. This is a consequence of activation barriers which cannot be overcome at the temperatures of cold clouds, even when such reactions are energetically allowed. The hydrogenation series based on the cyanide radical (HnCN) has had four members previously detected in the interstellar medium: CN (n=0), HCN (n=l), CH2CN (n=3), and CH3NH2 (n=5). The recent (NASA-CR-19 41S) BOUNDAaY CONOIT ONS THE PALEOENVIRONM_NT: CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL PROCESSES IN THE PRE-SOLAR Unc]as NEBULA Semi_nnu_| Status Report No. 21, 16 Feb. 15 Aug. I993 (M_:ss_chusetts Univ.) 6 p G3/Q2 N94-15421