Laboratory rotational spectroscopy leads to the first interstellar detection of singly deuterated methyl mercaptan (CH$_{2}$DSH) (2501.15944v1)

Abstract: We report an extensive rotational spectroscopic analysis of singly deuterated methyl mercaptan (CH${2}$DSH) using both millimeter and far-infrared synchrotron spectra to achieve a global torsional analysis of the three lowest torsional substates (e${0}$, e${1}$, and o${1}$) of this non-rigid species. A fit including 3419 millimeter wave transitions along with 43 infrared torsional subband centers was performed with root mean square deviations of 0.233 MHz and 0.270 cm$^{-1}$, respectively, resulting in 68 fit parameters. A spectroscopic catalogue built from this analysis for a temperature of 125 K has led to the first interstellar detection of CH${2}$DSH towards the Solar-like protostar IRAS 16293-2422 B. We report the identification of 46 transitions, including eight relatively unblended lines, resulting in a derived column density of (3.0$\pm$0.3)$\times$10$^{14}$ cm$^{-2}$. The column density ratio for HDCS/CH${2}$DSH compared to HDCO/CH${2}$DOH suggests a difference in the interstellar chemistry between the sulphur and oxygen complex organics, in particular a different link between H${2}$CO and CH${3}$OH and between H${2}$CS and CH$_{3}$SH. This is the first interstellar detection of a deuterated sulphur-bearing COM and therefore an important step into understanding the chemical origin of sulphur-based prebiotics.