Acetaldehyde CH_2_DCOH and CH_3_COD

For molecules with two isomeric forms of the same isotopic variant, gas-phase and solid-state formation pathways can be differentiated using their abundance ratio. Spectroscopic databases for astrophysical purposes are built for the two mono deuterated isomeric species CH_2_DCOH and CH_3_COD of the complex organic molecule acetaldehyde.

These databases can be used to search and detect these two species in astrophysical surveys, retrieving their column density and therefore abundances. Submillimeter wave and terahertz transitions were measured for mono deuterated acetaldehyde CH2DCOH which is a non-rigid species displaying internal rotation of its asymmetrical CH_2_D methyl group. An analysis of a dataset consisting of previously measured microwave data and the newly measured transition was carried out with a model accounting for the large amplitude torsion.