Laboratory Rotational Spectroscopy Leads to the First Interstellar Detection of Singly Deuterated Methyl Mercaptan (CH2DSH)

Abstract

We report an extensive rotational spectroscopic analysis of singly deuterated methyl mercaptan (CH2DSH) using both millimeter and far-infrared synchrotron spectra to achieve a global torsional analysis of the three lowest torsional substates (e0, e1, and o1) of this nonrigid species. A fit including 3419 millimeter-wave transitions along with 43 infrared torsional subband centers was performed with rms deviations of 0.233 MHz and 0.270 cm−1, respectively, resulting in 68 fit parameters. A spectroscopic catalog built from this analysis for a temperature of 125 K has led to the first interstellar detection of CH2DSH toward the solar-like protostar IRAS 16293-2422 B. We report the identification of 46 transitions, including eight relatively unblended lines, resulting in a derived column density of (3.0 ± 0.3) × 1014 cm−2. The column density ratio for HDCS/CH2DSH compared to HDCO/CH2DOH suggests a difference in the interstellar chemistry between the sulfur and oxygen complex organics, in particular a different link between H2CO and CH3OH and between H2CS and CH3SH. This is the first interstellar detection of a deuterated sulfur-bearing complex organic molecule and therefore an important step toward understanding the chemical origin of sulfur-based prebiotics.