Carbon monophosphide

Carbon monophosphide (CP) is a chemical with a molecular weight of 42.984.

CP is the pnictogenic cousin of the chalcogenic species CS. Aside from differences in the masses of the heavy atoms in each diatomic, CP and CN are both open-shell species with doublet Π ground electronic states while the ground states of CS and CO are closed-shell.

The simple diatomic radical carbon monophosphide (CP) was detected in the circumstellar envelope of the star IRC +10216 in 1990.^[1] The identification was made by matching 10 rotational lines observed with the IRAM 30m radiotelescope.^[2][3]

References