Knowledge Bank

Methyl formate is a well-known interstellar molecule found in the star-forming region. One possible methyl formate production reaction is the reaction of methanol with other chemical species. Since the methyl rotor is originated from the methanol and $\mathrm{<mrow\; data-mjx-texclass="ORD">13</mrow>}$CH$3$OH has already been identified in space, it is quite likely to detect HCOO$\mathrm{<mrow\; data-mjx-texclass="ORD">13</mrow>}$CH$3$ in the near future. The microwave spectra of the methyl formate isotopomer (HCOO$\mathrm{<mrow\; data-mjx-texclass="ORD">13</mrow>}$CH$3$) could provide the rest frequencies as well as some indication about the production mechanism. We observed the microwave spectra of HCOO$\mathrm{<mrow\; data-mjx-texclass="ORD">13</mrow>}$CH$3$ by means of the FT-microwave spectrometer and the conventional source modulation spectrometer. The lines in the ground state were assigned and analyzed based on Hougen's tunneling matrix formulation.