Theoretical and experimental approaches to predict which organic compounds are present in the interstellar medium

Theoretical and experimental approaches to predict which organic compounds are present in the interstellar medium

Jean-Claude Guillemin, Director of Research at CNRS, Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes, France

 More than 200 molecules have been detected in the clouds between the stars of the interstellar medium (ISM). Many of them are organic compounds. These species have been formed by a chemistry which depends on the physical and chemical parameters of the different media. By what reactions did these compounds form? What other compounds are present?

The purpose of this talk is to show how this subject has generated a lot of studies in organic chemistry. The choice of compounds, candidates for the ISM, is based on analogies with the detected compounds, a postulated chemistry of this medium or on physicochemical properties.  Several target compounds and the particular procedures involved to synthesize them will be presented. The millimeter spectra obtained in the laboratory with those obtained from radio telescopes will be compared. Experimental studies to simulate the chemistry at 10K on the interstellar grains will be described. In particular, several studies devoted to the synthesis, chemistry and spectroscopy of cyanopolyynes and isocyanides, will be detailed.