Abundant Z-cyanomethanimine in the interstellar medium: paving the way
  to the synthesis of adenine
  We report the first detection in the interstellar medium of the Z-isomer of
cyanomethanimine (HNCHCN), an HCN dimer proposed as precursor of adenine. We
identified six transitions of Z-cyanomethanimine, along with five transitions
of E-cyanomethanimine, using IRAM 30m observations towards the Galactic Center
quiescent molecular cloud G+0.693. The Z-isomer has a column density of
(2.0$\pm$0.6)$\times$10$^{14}$ cm$^{-2}$ and an abundance of
1.5$\times$10$^{-9}$. The relative abundance ratio between the isomers is
[Z/E]$\sim$6. This value cannot be explained by the two chemical formation
routes previously proposed (gas-phase and grain surface), which predicts
abundances ratios between 0.9 and 1.5. The observed [Z/E] ratio is in good
agreement with thermodynamic equilibrium at the gas kinetic temperature
(130$-$210 K). Since isomerization is not possible in the ISM, the two species
may be formed at high temperature. New chemical models, including surface
chemistry on dust grains and gas-phase reactions, should be explored to explain
our findings. Whatever the formation mechanism, the high abundance of Z-HNCHCN
shows that precursors of adenine are efficiently formed in the ISM.
