The dectection of disilicon carbide (Si₂C or SiCSi) was reported in Astrophysical Journal Letters in 2015 by Cernicharo et al. in IRC+10216 by matching 112 rotational lines. The IRAM 30m telescope was used for the observations. An associated theoretical paper by Reilly et al. was copublished in the Journal of Chemical Physics with the astronomical detection. No confirmation of the detection has been reported to date.

Diatomic SiC was discovered in 1989 and cyclic SiC₂ has been known since 1984. Two larger Si-C species are also known: linear SiC₄ was detected in 1989 and rhomboidal SiC₄ was detected in 2011. The detection of Si₂C thus fills in something of a gap.