| Aminomethanol (HOCH2NH2) is an important astrochemical molecule due to its proposed role in the formation of glycine, the simplest amino acid, in space. Astrochemical models have predicted aminomethanol formation in star-forming regions, but its detection in space has been precluded by its lack of a laboratory spectrum to guide astronomical searches. This molecule poses a challenge for laboratory spectroscopy because it is terrestrially unstable. The selective O(1D) insertion reaction into a C-H bond of methylamine has been proposed to create the molecule. Calculations were carried out to predict the energetics of this formation pathway, to investigate other possible products, and to predict the pure rotational spectrum of aminomethanol. To search for aminomethanol's laboratory spectrum, a new spectrometer was developed to produce molecules in the gas phase using O(1D) insertion reactions and then probe them using (sub)millimeter spectroscopy. The new experiment combined (sub)millimeter spectroscopy and a laser photolysis mixing supersonic expansion source. This experiment was first tested on the methanol and vinyl alcohol systems, produced from O(1D) insertion into methane and ethylene, respectively. Also, new fast sweeping techniques were developed to greatly increase the spectral acquisition speed of direct absorption (sub)millimeter wave spectroscopy. The fast sweeping techniques were also used to create a new (sub)millimeter -- microwave double resonance spectroscopy technique. All of these techniques were then combined to aid in the search for aminomethanol. The results of these experiments as well as the current results from searches for aminomethanol are presented here. |
