We present here an investigation of the chemical composition of the various regions in the core of the Orion molecular cloud (OMC-1) based on results from the Caltech Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO) millimeter-wave spectral line survey (Sutton et al.; Blake et al.). This survey covered a 55 GHz interval in the 1.3 rom (230 GHz) atmospheric window and contained emission from over 800 resolved spectral features. Of the 29 identified species 14 have a sufficient number of detected transitions to be investigated with an LTE "rotation diagram" technique, in which large numbers of lines are used to estimate both the rotational excitation and the overall abundance. The rotational temperatures and column densities resulting from these fits have then been used to model the emission from those remaining species which either have too few lines or which are too weak to be so analyzed. When different kinematic sources of emission are blended to produce a single feature, Gaussian fits have been used to derive the individual contributions to the total line profile. The uniformly calibrated data in the unique and extensive Caltech spectral line survey lead to accurate estimates of the chemical and physical parameters of the Orion molecular cloud, and place significant constraints on models of interstellar chemistry. A global analysis of the observed abundances shows that the markedly different chemical compositions of the kinematically and spatially distinct Orion subsources may be interpreted in the framework of an evolving, initially quiescent, gas-phase chemistry influenced by the process of massive star formation. The chemical composition of the extended Orion cloud complex is similar to that found in a number of other objects, but the central regions of OMC-1 have had their chemistry selectively altered by the radiation and high-velocity outflow from the young stars embedded deep within the interior of the molecular cloud. Specifically, the extended ridge clouds are inferred to have a low (subsolar) gas-phase oxygen content from the prevalence of reactive carbon-rich species like CN, CCH, and C 3 H 2 also found in more truly quiescent objects such as TMC-1. The similar abundances of these and other simple species in clouds like OMC-1, Sgr B2, and TMC-1 lend support to gas-phase ion-molecule models of interstellar chemistry, but grain processes may also play a significant role in maintaining the overall chemical balance in such regions through selective depletion mechanisms and grain mantle processing. In contrast, the chemical compositions of the more turbulent plateau and hot core components of OMC-1 are dominated by high-temperature, shock-induced gas and grain surface neutral-neutral reaction processes. The high silicon/sulfur oxide and water content of the plateau gas is best modeled by fast shock disruption of smaller grain cores to release the more refractory elements followed by a predominantly neutral chemistry in the cooling postshock regions, while a more passive release of grain mantle products driven towar...

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Molecular line emission from the core of the Orion molecular cloud has been surveyed from 215 to 247 GHz to an average sensitivity of about 0.2 K. A total of 544 resolvable lines were detected, of which 517 are identified and attributed to 25 distinct chemical species. A large fraction of the lines are partially blended with other identified transitions. Because of the large line width in the Orion core, the spectrum is near the confusion limit for the weakest lines identified ("" 0.2 K). The most abundant complex molecules present are HCOOCH 3 , CH 3 0CH 3 , and C 2 H 5 CN, with beam-averaged column densities of about 3X10 15 cm-2 • Together with the simpler species S0 2 , CH 3 0H, and CH 3 CN, they account for approximately 70% of the lines in the spectrum. Relatively few unidentified lines are present. There are 27 lines clearly present in the spectrum which are currently unidentified. However, many of these are thought to be high-lying transitions of complex asymmetric rotors such as CH 3 0H. Present spectroscopic data are inadequate to predict the frequencies of such transitions with sufficient accuracy.

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We report interferometric observations of nine class II methanol maser candidate lines toward W3(OH). Narrow maser emission spikes at km s~1 are present in three of the lines :