Sodium cyanide, NaCN, is a nearly T-shaped molecule. It possesses
a NaN bond that is slightly shorther than the NaC bond. Therefore,
the molecule should be considered more appropriately as
sodium isocyanide, NaNC.
It was observed first toward IRC+10216 in four Ka
= 0 transitions by
B. E. Turner, T. C. Steimle, and L. Meerts,
Detection of Sodium Cyanide (NaCN) in IRC+10216
Astrophys. J. 426, 97–100 (1994).
Note: in that paper the assumed dipole moment was
too low by a factor of about 2.5 because an ab initio
dipole moment was taken as being in units of Debye whereas
it actually was given in atomic units. 1 au equals
to 2.542 D.
More recently, it was also detected toward the protoplanetary nebula
(PPN) CRL 2688, the egg nebula:
J. L. Highberger, C. Savage, J. H. Bieging, L. M. Ziurys,
Heavy-Metal Chemistry in Proto-Planetary Nebulae:
Detection of MgNC, NaCN, and AlF toward CRL 2688
Astrophys. J. 562, 790–798 (2001).