  HCCNC and HNC3 are less commonly found isomers of cyanoacetylene, HC3N, a
molecule that is widely found in diverse astronomical sources. We want to know
if HNC3 is present in sources other than the dark cloud TMC-1 and how its
abundance is relative to that of related molecules. We used the ASAI unbiased
spectral survey at IRAM 30m towards the prototypical prestellar core L1544 to
search for HNC3 and HCCNC which are by-product of the HC3NH+ recombination,
previously detected in this source. We performed a combined analysis of
published HNC3 microwave rest frequencies with thus far unpublished millimeter
data because of issues with available rest frequency predictions. We determined
new spectroscopic parameters for HNC3, produced new predictions and detected it
towards L1544. We used a gas-grain chemical modelling to predict the abundances
of N-species and compare with the observations. The modelled abundances are
consistent with the observations, considering a late stage of the evolution of
the prestellar core. However the calculated abundance of HNC3 was found 5-10
times higher than the observed one. The HC3N, HNC3 and HCCNC versus HC3NH+
ratios are compared in the TMC-1 dark cloud and the L1544 prestellar core.
