Molecules in Protoplanetary Disks


JULY 2018: This is a list of molecules that have been found in protoplanetary/circumstellar disks, such as TW Hydrae (above left) and HL Tauri (above right). Due to the small number of species detected in protoplanetary disks to date, the list below includes isotopomeric variants that have been detected.

For background about chemistry in protoplanetary disks, see the archived presentation by Öberg et al. or the 2013 review paper by Henning & Semenov.

YEAR	SPECIES	CITATION	SOURCE AND LINES
1993	¹³CO ¹³C-CO	A Rotating Gaseous Disk around the T Tauri Star GM Aurigae D. W. Koerner, A. I. Sargent, and S. V. W. Beckwith. Icarus 106:2-10 (1993).	GM Aurigae J = 2-1 (220.4 GHz)
1997	CN cyano	Chemistry of protosolar-like nebulae: The molecular content of the DM Tau and GG Tau disks A. Dutrey, S. Guilloteau, and M. Guélin. A&A 317:L55-L28 (1997).	GG Tauri, DM Tauri 1-0 2-1
1997	HCN hydrogen cyanide	Chemistry of protosolar-like nebulae: The molecular content of the DM Tau and GG Tau disks A. Dutrey, S. Guilloteau, and M. Guélin. A&A 317:L55-L28 (1997).	GG Tauri, DM Tauri 1-0 3-2
1997	HNC hydrogen isocyanide	Chemistry of protosolar-like nebulae: The molecular content of the DM Tau and GG Tau disks A. Dutrey, S. Guilloteau, and M. Guélin. A&A 317:L55-L28 (1997).	GG Tauri, DM Tauri ???
1997	CS carbon monosulfide	Chemistry of protosolar-like nebulae: The molecular content of the DM Tau and GG Tau disks A. Dutrey, S. Guilloteau, and M. Guélin. A&A 317:L55-L28 (1997).	GG Tauri, DM Tauri 3-2 5-4
1997	HCO⁺ protonated CO	Chemistry of protosolar-like nebulae: The molecular content of the DM Tau and GG Tau disks A. Dutrey, S. Guilloteau, and M. Guélin. A&A 317:L55-L28 (1997).	GG Tauri, DM Tauri 1-0 3-2
1997	N₂H⁺ protonated N₂	Chemistry of protosolar-like nebulae: The molecular content of the DM Tau and GG Tau disks A. Dutrey, S. Guilloteau, and M. Guélin. A&A 317:L55-L28 (1997).	GG Tauri, DM Tauri 1-0
1997	H₂CO formaldehyde	Chemistry of protosolar-like nebulae: The molecular content of the DM Tau and GG Tau disks A. Dutrey, S. Guilloteau, and M. Guélin. A&A 317:L55-L28 (1997).	GG Tauri, DM Tauri 2₀₂-1₀₁ 2₁₂-1₁₁ 3₁₂-2₁₂
1997	C₂H ethynyl	Chemistry of protosolar-like nebulae: The molecular content of the DM Tau and GG Tau disks A. Dutrey, S. Guilloteau, and M. Guélin. A&A 317:L55-L28 (1997).	DM Tauri 1-0
2001	CO carbon monoxide	H₂ and CO emisision from disks around T Tauri and Herbig Ae pre-main sequence stars and from debris disks around young stars: Warm and cold circumstellar gas W. F. Thi, E. F. van Dishoeck, G. A. Blake, G. J. van Zadelhoff, J. Horn, E. E. Becklin, V. Mannings, A. I. Sargent, M. F. van den Ancker, A. Natta, and J. Kessler. ApJ 561:1074-1094 (2001).	Multiple sources 3-2 6-5
2003	DCO⁺ D-HCO⁺	Detection of DCO⁺ in a circumstellar disk E. F. van Dishoeck, W.-F. Thi, and G.-J. van Zadelhoff. A&A 400:L1-L4 (2003).	TW Hydrae J = 5-4 (360.169 GHz)
2008	DCN D-HCN	Resolving the Chemistry in the Disk of TW Hydrae. I. Deuterated Species C. Qi, D. J. Wilner, Y. Aikawa, G. A. Blake, and M. R. Hogerheijde. ApJ 681:1396-1407.	TW Hydrae J = 3-2 (217.23863 GHz)
2011	H₂O water	Detection of the Water Reservoir in a Forming Planetary System M. R. Hogerheijde, E. A. Bergin, C. Brinch, L. I. Cleeves, J. K. J. Fogel, G. A. Blake, C. Dominik, D. C. Lis, G. Melnick, D. Neufeld, O. Panić, J. C. Pearson, L. Kristensen, U. A. Yıldız, and E. F. van Dishoeck. Science 334:338-340 (2011).	TW Hydrae 1₁₀-1₀₁ (ortho) 1₁₁-1₀₀ (para)
2011	H¹³CO⁺ ¹³C-HCO⁺	The Ionization Fraction in the DM Tau Protoplanetary Disk K. I. Öberg, C. Qi, D. J. Wilner, and S. M. Andrews. ApJ 743:152 (2011). (first detection?)	DM Tau J = 3-2 (260.255 GHz)
2012	HC₃N cyanoacetylene	Chemistry in Disks. VII. First Detection of HC₃N in Protoplanetary Disks E. Chapillon, A. Dutrey, S. Guilloteau, V. Piétu, V. Wakelam, F. Hersant, F. Gueth, T. Henning, R. Launhardt, K. Schreyer, and D. Semenov. ApJ 756:58 (2018).	MWC 480... (16-15) (145.560 GHz) (12-11) (109.173 GHz) (10-9) (90.978 GHz)
2013	HD D-H₂	An old disk still capable of forming a planetary system E. A. Bergin, L. I. Cleeves, U. Gorti, K. Zhang, G. A. Blake, J. D. Green, S. M. Andrews, N. J. Evans II, T. Henning, K. Öberg, K. Pontoppidan, C. Qi, C. Salyk, and E. F. van Dishoeck. Nature 493:644-646 (2013).	TW Hya 1-0 (~112 μm)
2013	SO sulfur monoxide	A sensitive survey for ¹³CO, CN, H₂CO, and SO in the disks of T Tauri and Herbig Ae stars S. Guilloteau, E. Di Folco, A. Dutrey, M. Simon, N. Grosso, and V. Piétu. A&A 549, A92 (2013). Chemistry in disks. X. The molecular content of protoplanetary disks in Taurus S. Guilloteau, L. Reboussin, A. Dutrey, E. Chapillon, V. Wakelam, V. Piétu; E Di Folco, D. Semonov, and T. Henning. A&A 592:A125 (2016).	Multiple sources 5₄-4₃ (206.176062 GHz) 6₅-5₄ (251.825816 GHz) 6₇-5₆ (261.843756 GHz)
2013	c-C₃H₂ cyclo- propenylidene	First Detection of c-C₃H₂ in a Circumstellar Disk C. Qi, K. I. Öberg, D. J. Wilner, and K. A. Rosenfeld. ApJL 765:L14 (2013).	HD 163296 3_3,0-2_2,1 (216.279 GHz) 6_1,6-5_0,5/6_0,6-5_1,5 (217.822 GHz) 5_1,4-4_2,3 (217.940 GHz)
2015	CH₃CN methyl cyanide	The comet-like composition of a protoplanetary disk as revealed by complex cyanides K. I. Öberg, V. V. Guzmán, K. Furuya, C. Qi, Y. Aikawa, S. M. Andrews, R. Loomis, and D. J. Wilner. Nature 520:198-200 (2015).	MWC 480 14₀-13₀ (257.5274 GHz) 14₁-13₁ (257.5224 GHz)
2015	N₂D⁺ D⁺-N₂	Detection of N₂D⁺ in a protoplanetary disk J. Huang and K. I. Öber. ApJL 809:L26 (2015).	AS 209 3-2 (231.39868 MHz)
2015	H¹³CN ¹³C-HCN	Cyanide photochemistry and nitrogen fractionation in the MWC 480 disk V. V. Guzmán, K. I. Öberg, R. Loomis, and C. Qi. ApJ 814:53 (2015).	MWC 480 3-2 (259.0118 GHz)
2015	HC¹⁵N ¹⁵N-HCN	Cyanide photochemistry and nitrogen fractionation in the MWC 480 disk V. V. Guzmán, K. I. Öberg, R. Loomis, and C. Qi. ApJ 814:53 (2015).	MWC 480 3-2 (258.1571 GHz)
2016	CH₃OH methanol	First Detection of Gas-phase Methanol in a Protoplanetary Disk C. Walsh, R. A. Loomis, K. I. Öberg, M. Kama, M. L. R. van't Hoff, T. J. Millar, Y. Aikawa, E. Herbst, S. L. Widicus Weaver, and H. Nomura. ApJL 832:L10 (2016).	TW Hydrae 7 lines
2016	NH₃ ammonia	First detection of gas-phase ammonia in a planet-forming disk. NH₃, N₂H⁺, and H₂O in the disk around TW Hydrae V. N. Salinas, M. R. Hogerheijde, E. A. Bergin, L. I. Cleeves, C. Brinch, G. A. Blake, D. C. Lis, G. J. Melnick, O. Panić, J. C. Pearson, L. Kristensen, U. A. YĲldĲz, and E. F. van Dishoeck. A&A 591:A122 (2016).	TW Hydrae 1₀-0₀ (572.49817 GHz)
2017	C¹⁵N ¹⁵N-CN	Direct evidence of multiple reservoirs of volatile nitrogen in a protosolar nebula analog P. Hily-Blant, V. Magalhaes, J. Kastner, A. Faure, T. Forveille, and C. Qi. A&A 603:L6 (2017).	TW Hydrae 3-2 with hyperfine
2018	t-HCOOH trans-formic acid	First Detection of the Simplest Organic Acid in a Protoplanetary Disk C. Favre, D. Fedele, D. Semenov, S. Parfenov, C. Codella, C. Ceccarelli, E. A. Bergin, E. Chapillon, L. Testi, F. Hersant, B. Lefloch, F. Fontani, G. A. Blake, L. I. Cleeves, C. Qi, K. R. Schwarz, and V. Taquet. ApJL 862, L2 (2018).	TW Hydrae 6_(1-6)5_(1,5) (129 GHz)
2018	H₂S hydrogen sulfide	First detection of H₂S in a protoplanetary disk. The dense GG Tauri A ring N. T. Phuong, E. Chapillon, L. Majumdar, A. Dutrey, S. Guilloteau, V. Piétu, V. Wakelam, P. N. Diep, Y.-W. Tang, T. Beck, and J. Bary. A&A 616, L5 (2018).	GG Tauri 1_1,0-1_0,1
2019	¹³C¹⁷O ¹³C-,¹⁷O-CO	The First Detection of ¹³C¹⁷O in a Protoplanetary Disk: A Robust Tracer of Disk Gas Mass A. S. Booth, C. Walsh, J. D. Ilee, S. Notsu, C. Qi, H. Nomura, and E. Akiyama. ApJL 882:L31 (2019).	HD 163296 blend of 14 hyperfine transitions of J=3-2(321.851-321.852 GHz)

uv-vis (electronic) mm/sub-mm (rotational) infrared (vibrational)

Maintained by DE Woon

Updated 16 September 2019