Matrix‐Isolation Applied to High‐Temperature and Interstellar Molecules: A Review

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Abstract
The contributions of optical and electron‐spin‐resonance (ESR) spectroscopy at 4 K to the determination of the electronic, vibrational, and magnetic properties of high‐temperature and interstellar molecules are briefly reviewed. The present status of the ground state properties of the transition‐metal oxide, nitride, carbide, and hydride molecules are considered. Other molecules produced by the vaporization of beryllium, carbon, silicon, silicon carbide, boron, and boron carbide are also discussed. Numerous metastable molecules for which spectral data are lacking remain to be detected in interstellar space. It is probable that the role of matrix‐isolation, as exemplified by the identification of the interstellar ethynyl and cyanoethynyl radicals via ESR studies at 4 K, will become increasingly important because of the difficulties in observing many reactive molecules in the gas phase.

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