rotational transitions of cyanoacetamide

The aim of our investigation is to analyze the feasibility of a plausible formation process of protonated cyanoacetamide under interstellar conditions and to provide direct experimental frequencies of the ground vibrational state of the neutral form in the microwave region in order to enable its eventual identification in the interstellar medium.

We used high-level theoretical computations to study the formation process of protonated cyanoacetamide. Furthermore, we employed a high resolution laser ablation molecular beam Fourier transform (LA-MB-FTMW) spectroscopic technique to measure the frequencies of the neutral form. We report the first rotational characterization of cyanoacetamide and a precise set of the relevant rotational spectroscopic constants have been determined as a first step to identify the molecule in the interstellar medium.