The chemistry and prospects for interstellar detection of somedicyanoacetylenes and other cyanoacetylene-related species

Recent cryochemical and photochemical findings for cyanoacetylene and cyanopolyacetylene-related molecules (including various isomeric species), backed up with quantum-chemical predictions, are analysed. A new class of interstellar molecules, distinguished by bare (hydrogen-less), unsaturated carbon-nitrogen chains of the general formula C _n N₂ is postulated. It is recommended to look for some relevant IR spectral features in space. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.