The presence of the sulfonium ion (H3S+) was sought via its
10-00 rotational transition at 293.4572 GHz toward a number of sources by
Neufeld et al. using the
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
30m telescope on
Pico Valeta in southern Spain.
Four other sulfur-containing molecules were successfully detected by the study: SH, H2S, CS, and SO.
The five objects where H3S+ was searched for include the star-forming regions
W31C, G29.96-0.02, G34.2+0.1,
W49N, and
W51. The upper limit derived for
H3S+ relative to
H2S—τ(H3S+)/τ(H2S)—was about 0.01.
The 10-00 rotational transition of H3S+ was measured by
Saito et al. in 1987.
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Sulfonium
or protonated hydrogen sulfide is analogous to the known astromolecule,
hydronium, H3O+.
Both compounds are pyramidal. In organic chemistry,
sulfonium is also the generic term for any
tricoordinated sulfur cation (SR1R2R3)+. A large number of
sulfonium salts have been
characterized.
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