Laboratory detection of the rotational-tunnelling spectrum of the hydroxymethyl radical, CH2OH

摘要

Context. Of the two structural isomers of CH3O, methoxy is the only radical whose astronomical detection has been reported through the observation of several rotational lines at 2 and 3 mm wavelengths. Although the hydroxymethyl radical, CH2OH, is known to be thermodynamically the most stable (by ~3300 cm-1), it has so far eluded rotational spectroscopy presumably because of its high chemical reactivity.