  We present the detection of cyanothioketene, NCCHCS, in the laboratory and
toward TMC-1. This transient species was produced through a discharge of a gas
mixture of CH2CHCN and CS2 using argon as carrier gas, and its rotational
spectrum between 9 and 40 GHz was characterized using a Balle-Flygare
narrowband-type Fourier-transform microwave spectrometer. A total of 21
rotational transitions were detected in the laboratory, all of them exhibiting
hyperfine structure induced by the spin of the N nucleus. The spectrum for
NCCHCS was predicted in the domain of our line surveys using the derived
rotational and distortion constants. The detection in the cold starless core
TMC-1 was based on the QUIJOTE line survey performed with the Yebes 40m radio
telescope. Twenty-three lines were detected with K_a=0, 1, and 2 and J_u=9 up
to 14. The derived column density is (1.2+/-0.1)e11 cm-2 for a rotational
temperature of 8.5+/-1 K. The abundance ratio of thioketene and its cyano
derivative, H2CCS/NCCHCS, is 6.5+/-1.3. Although ketene is more abundant than
thioketene by about 15 times, its cyano derivative NCCHCO surprisingly is not
detected with a 3sigma upper level to the column density of 3.0e10 cm-2, which
results in an abundance ratio H2CCO/NCCHCO > 430. Hence, the chemistry of CN
derivatives seems to be more favored for S-bearing than for O-bearing
molecules. We carried out chemical modeling calculations and found that the
gas-phase neutral-neutral reactions CCN + H2CS and CN + H2CCS could be a source
of NCCHCS in TMC-1.
