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The cyano radical (CN) is one of the most frequently remotely observedspecies in space, also in comets. Data from the high-resolution Double FocusingMass Spectrometer (DFMS) on board the Rosetta orbiter, collected in the innercoma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, revealed an unexpected chemicalcomplexity, and, recently, also more CN than expected from photodissociation ofits most likely parent hydrogen cyanide (HCN). This work is dedicated to thederivation of abundances relative to HCN of three cometary nitriles (includingstructural isomers) from DFMS data. Mass spectrometry of complex mixtures doesnot always allow distinction of structural isomers. We assumed the most stableand most abundant (in similar environments) structure in our analysis, that isHCN for CHN, CH3CN for C2H3N, HC3N for C3HN, and NCCN for C2N2. Forcyanoacetylene (HC3N) and acetonitrile (CH3CN) the complete mission timelinewas evaluated, while cyanogen (NCCN) often was below detection limit. Bycarefully selecting periods where cyanogen was above detection limit, we wereable to follow the abundance ratio between NCCN and HCN from 3.16 au inbound to3.42 au outbound. These are the first measurements of NCCN in a comet.We findthat neither NCCN, nor any of the other two nitriles, is sufficiently abundantto be a relevant alternative parent to CN.

Cyanogen, cyanoacetylene, and acetonitrile in comet 67P and their relationship to the cyano radical