Conformer-Specific Desorption in Propanol Ices Probed by Chirped-Pulse Millimeter-Wave Rotational Spectroscopy.

We present a new technique for the detection of molecules desorbed from an ice surface using broad-band millimeter-wave rotational spectroscopy. The approach permits interrogation of molecules that have undergone the slow warmup process of temperature-programmed desorption (TPD), analogous to the warmup phase of icy grains in the interstellar medium as they approach the central protostar. The detection is conformer- and isomer-specific and quantitative, as afforded by chirped-pulse rotational spectroscopy.