The Formation of HCS and HCSH Molecules and Their Role in the Collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter

The reaction of hydrogen sulfide with ground-state atomic carbon was examined with crossed molecular beams experiments and ab initio calculations. The thiohydroxycarbene molecule, HCSH, was the reactive intermediate, which fragmented into atomic hydrogen and the thioformyl radical HCS. This finding may account for the unassigned HCS source and an unidentified HCSH radical needed to match observed CS abundances from the collision of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into Jupiter. In the shocked jovian atmosphere, HCS could further decompose to H and CS, and CS could react with SH and OH to yield the observed CS2 and COS.