Electronic structure of simple phosphorus containing molecules [C,xH,O,P] candidate for astrobiology (x=1, 3, 5)

The present report is a prospective study aimed at finding phosphorus containing compounds for astrobiology. Since PN, PC and HCP are the only species detected so far, it was deemed reasonable to enlarge the quest for phosphorus compounds to mixed carbon oxygen containing compounds [C,xH,O,P] analogue to the CHON family. Ab initio Møller–Plesset (MP2), Coupled Cluster (CCSD(T)) and Density Functional Theory (DFT) were used. State of the art level of theory, CCSD(T)/cc-pVQZ, was necessary to show that CH3–PH2O is the most stable isomer, with CH3–PH–OH close by in the [C,5H,O,P] sub-family. This structure has the same C–P–O connectivity as the most stable compound of the [C,3H,O,P] sub-family, CH3–PO but differs from the simplest [C,H,O,P] system HPCO. Rotational constants B = 7.1377 and C = 6.0636 GHz associated with a dipole moment of 4.2 Debye together with an IR spectrum with very strong bands at 1214, 2282, 2264 and 1039 cm−1 have been calculated for CH3–PH2O. For CH3–PO, one has B = 7.9881 and C = 6.4659 GHz, a dipole moment of 2.9 Debye and four IR bands at 1198, 623, 835, 1256 cm−1 of medium intensity. The simplest HPCO system with B = 5.5206 and 5.3952 GHz and a dipole moment of 0.8 Debye has only one very strong IR frequency at 2037 cm−1. The above values should be precise enough to encourage laboratory experiments on these prototype molecules.