Electronic Spectroscopy of Medium-sized Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: Implications for the Carriers of the 2175 Å UV Bump

Mixtures of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been produced by means of laser pyrolysis. The main fraction of the extracted PAHs was primarily medium-sized, up to a maximum size of 38 carbon atoms per molecule. The use of different extraction solvents and subsequent chromatographic fractionation provided mixtures of different size distributions. UV-VIS absorption spectra have been measured at low temperature by matrix isolation spectroscopy and at room temperature with PAHs as film-like deposits on transparent substrates. In accordance with semi-empirical calculations, our findings suggest that large PAHs with sizes around 50-60 carbon atoms per molecule could be responsible for the interstellar UV bump at 217.5 nm.