A Crossed Molecular Beams and Computational Study of the Formation of the Astronomically Elusive Thiosilaformyl Radical (HSiS, X²A′)

The formation pathways to silicon- and sulfur-containing molecules are crucial to the understanding of silicon-sulfur chemistry in interstellar and circumstellar environments. While multiple silicon- and sulfur-containing species have been observed in deep space, their fundamental formation mechanisms are largely unknown. The crossed molecular beams technique combined with electronic structure and Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus (RRKM) calculations was utilized to study the bimolecular reaction of atomic silicon (Si(³P_j)) with thiomethanol (CH₃SH, X¹A′) leading to the thiosilaformyl radical (HSiS, X²A′) via an exclusive methyl radical (CH₃, X²A₂″) loss via indirect scattering dynamics which involves barrierless addition and hydrogen migration in an overall exoergic reaction, indicating the possibility that HSiS can form in cold molecular clouds. The astronomically elusive thiosilaformyl radical may act as a tracer of an exotic silicon-sulfur chemistry to be deciphered toward, for example, the star-forming region SgrB2, thus leading to a better understanding of the formation of silicon-sulfur bonds in deep space.