  We present a systematic study of the HNCO, C18O, 13CS, and C34S emission
towards 13 selected molecular clouds in the Galactic center region. The
molecular emission in these positions are used as templates of the different
physical and chemical processes claimed to be dominant in the circumnuclear
molecular gas of galaxies. The relative abundance of HNCO shows a variation of
more than a factor of 20 amo ng the observed sources. The HNCO/13CS abundance
ratio is highly contrasted (up to a factor of 30) between the shielded
molecular clouds mostly affected by shocks, where HNCO is released to gas-phase
from grain mantles, and those pervaded by an intense UV radiation field, where
HNCO is photo-dissociated and CS production favored via ion reactions. We
propose the relative HNCO to CS abundance ratio as a highly contrasted
diagnostic tool to distinguish between the influence of shocks and/or the
radiation field in the nuclear regions of galaxies and their relation to the
evolutionary state of their nuclear star formation bursts.
