title: The millimeter wave spectrum of methyl cyanate: a laboratory study and astronomical search in space<sup/>.
abstract: The recent discovery of methyl isocyanate (CH3NCO) in Sgr B2(N) and Orion KL makes methyl cyanate (CH3OCN) a potential molecule in the interstellar medium. The aim of this work is to fulfill the first requirement for its unequivocal identification in space, i.e. the availability of transition frequencies with high accuracy.
  
  
  
  The room-temperature rotational spectrum of methyl cyanate was recorded in the millimeter wave domain from 130 to 350 GHz. All rotational transitions revealedA-Esplitting owing to methyl internal rotation and were globally analyzed using the ERHAM program.
  
  
  
  The data set for the ground torsional state of methyl cyanate exceeds 700 transitions withinJ″= 10 - 35 and [Formula: see text] and newly derived spectroscopic constants reproduce the spectrum close to the experimental uncertainty. Spectral features of methyl cyanate were then searched for in Orion KL, Sgr B2(N), B1-b, and TMC-1 molecular clouds. Upper limits to the column density of methyl cyanate are provided.
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Espectroscopía Molecular (GEM), Edificio Quifima, Área de Química-Física, Laboratorios de Espectroscopia y Bioespectroscopia, Parque Científico UVa, Unidad Asociada CSIC, Universidad de Valladolid, 47011 Valladolid, Spain.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kolesniková
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Espectroscopía Molecular (GEM), Edificio Quifima, Área de Química-Física, Laboratorios de Espectroscopia y Bioespectroscopia, Parque Científico UVa, Unidad Asociada CSIC, Universidad de Valladolid, 47011 Valladolid, Spain.
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Alonso
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Espectroscopía Molecular (GEM), Edificio Quifima, Área de Química-Física, Laboratorios de Espectroscopia y Bioespectroscopia, Parque Científico UVa, Unidad Asociada CSIC, Universidad de Valladolid, 47011 Valladolid, Spain.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bermúdez
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Espectroscopía Molecular (GEM), Edificio Quifima, Área de Química-Física, Laboratorios de Espectroscopia y Bioespectroscopia, Parque Científico UVa, Unidad Asociada CSIC, Universidad de Valladolid, 47011 Valladolid, Spain.
authors.forename: E R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Alonso
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid, CSIC, C/ Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz 3, 28049 Cantoblanco, Spain.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tercero
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid, CSIC, C/ Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz 3, 28049 Cantoblanco, Spain.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cernicharo
authors.affiliation: Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes, École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Rennes, CNRS, UMR 6226, 11 Allée de Beaulieu, CS 50837, 35708 Rennes Cedex 7, France.
authors.forename: J-C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Guillemin
keywords: ISM: individual objects: Orion KL, Sgr B2(N), B1-b, TMC-1; ISM: molecules; astrochemistry; astronomical databases: miscellaneous; line: identification