Formation of cyanoformaldehyde in the interstellar space

Cyanoformaldehyde (HCOCN) molecule has recently been suspected towards the Sagittarius B2(N) by the Green Bank telescope, though a confirmation of this observation has not yet been made. In and around a star-forming region, this molecule could be formed by the exothermic reaction between two abundant interstellar species, H2CO and CN. Till date, the reaction rate coefficient for the formation of this molecule is unknown. Educated guesses were used to explain the abundance of this molecule by chemical modelling. In this paper, we carried out quantum chemical calculations to find out rate coefficients for the formation of HCOCN and different chemical properties during the formation of HCOCN molecules. Though HCOCN is stable against unimolecular decomposition, this gas-phase molecule could be destroyed by many other means, like: ion-molecular reactions or by the effect of cosmic rays. We have also included the obtained rate coefficients into our large gas-grain chemical network to study the chemical evolution of these species in various interstellar conditions. Formation of one of the isotopologue (DCOCN) of HCOCN is also studied. Our study predicts the possibility of finding HCOCN and DCOCN in the ice phase with a reasonably high abundance. In order to detect HCOCN or DCOCN in various interstellar environments, it is necessary to know the spectroscopic properties of these molecules. To this effect, we carried out quantum chemical calculations to find out different spectral parameters of HCOCN for the transition in electronic, infrared and rotational modes. We clearly show how the isotopic substitution (DCOCN) plays a part in the vibrational progressions of HCOCN.