Aims. We present a new version of the UMIST Database for Astrochemistry, the fourth such version to be released to the public. The current version contains some 4573 binary gas-phase reactions, an increase of 10% from the previous (1999) version, among 420 species, of which 23 are new to the database. Methods. Major updates have been made to ion-neutral reactions, neutral-neutral reactions, particularly at low temperature, and dissociative recombination reactions. We have included for the first time the interstellar chemistry of fluorine. In addition to the usual database, we have also released a reaction set in which the effects of dipole-enhanced ion-neutral rate coefficients are included. Results. These two reactions sets have been used in a dark cloud model and the results of these models are presented and discussed briefly. The database and associated software are available on the World Wide Web at www.udfa.net.

We report the detection of new transitions of octatetraynyl (C 8 H) toward the circumstellar envelope IRC ϩ10 216 using data taken with the 100 m Green Bank Telescope (GBT). In addition, we report five features from the Ku, K, and Q bands that have been identified as transitions of the octatetraynyl anion (C 8 H Ϫ ). From a rotational temperature diagram and an assumed source size of 30Љ, we find a total C 8 H column density of cm Ϫ2 12

We have extensively mapped a sample of dense molecular clouds (L1512, TMC-1C, L1262, Per 7, L1389, L1251E) in lines of HC 3 N, CH 3 OH, SO and C 18 O. We demonstrate that a high degree of chemical differentiation is present in all of the observed clouds. We analyse the molecular maps for each cloud, demonstrating a systematic chemical differentiation across the sample, which we relate to the evolutionary state of the cloud. We relate our observations to the cloud physical, kinematical and evolutionary properties, and also compare them to the predictions of simple chemical models. The implications of this work for understanding the origin of the clumpy structures and chemical differentiation observed in dense clouds are discussed.

We present Spitzer spectra of S stars, which are cool evolved stars with a C/O ratio near unity, some of which have enhanced s-process abundances. We present the detection of a strong and unusual band in the mid-infrared, at 13 μm, within the N-band window. Using quantum-chemically calculated line lists, and model spectra, we identify this band as the fundamental rovibrational band of SiS. Detection of the overtone band at 6.7 μm confirms the identification. Fitting the line profile shows that the molecule is located in relatively cool layers, at T ∼ 1500 K. We discuss these results in the context of chemical equilibrium models. The observed strength of these bands in the cool S stars makes them a promising observational diagnostic tool for studying the atmospheres of brown dwarfs and exoplanets.