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An observational study was made of interstellar (and circumstellar) phosphorus chemistry by means of (1) a survey of PN in energetic star-forming regions (several new detections); (2) a search for PN in cold cloud cores; and (3) a search for HPO, HCP, and PH3 in interstellar and circumstellar sources. The results are consistent with previously developed ion-molecule models of phosphorus chemistry and imply large depletion factors for P in dense clouds: about 1000 in warm star-forming cores and more than 10,000 in cold cloud cores. Thermochemical equilibrium models have been developed for the P chemistry in C-rich and O-rich environments, and it is found that HCP contains all the phosphorus in the C-rich case. The search for HCP in IRC 10216 yields an upper limit which, taken together with the recent detection of CP, implies significant depletion of HCP onto grains. Depletion factors for first- and second-row elements in diffuse and dense interstellar clouds are summarized, and an overall picture of circumstellar and interstellar grain and gas-phase processes is proposed to explain the depletions of N, O, C, S, Si, P, and in particular the high depletions of Si and P.
Turner et al. (Sat,) studied this question.