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Description
The chemical evolution in high-mass star-forming regions is still poorly constrained. Studying the evolution of deuterated molecules allows distinguishing between subsequent stages of high-mass star formation regions based on the strong temperature dependence of deuterium isotopic fractionation. We observed a sample of 59 sources including 19 infrared dark clouds, 20 high-mass protostellar objects, 11 hot molecular cores and 9 ultra-compact HII regions in the (3-2) transitions of the four deuterated molecules, DCN, DNC, DCO^+^, and N_2_D^+^ as well as their non-deuterated counterparts. The overall detection fraction of DCN, DNC, and DCO^+^ is high and exceeds 50% for most of the stages. N_2_D^+^ was only detected in a few infrared dark clouds and high-mass protostellar objects. This may be related to problems in the bandpass at the transition frequency and to low abundances in the more evolved, warmer stages. We find median D/H ratios of 0.02 for DCN, 0.005 for DNC, 0.0025 for DCO^+^, and 0.02 for N_2_D^+^. While the D/H ratios of DNC, DCO^+^, and N_2_D^+^ decrease with time, DCN/HCN peaks at the hot molecular core stage. We only found weak correlations of the D/H ratios for N_2_D^+^ with the luminosity of the central source and the FWHM of the line, and no correlation with the H_2_ column density. In combination with a previously observed set of 14 other molecules (Paper I), we fitted the calculated column densities with an elaborate 1D physico-chemical model with time-dependent D-chemistry including ortho- and para-H_2_ states. Good overall fits to the observed data were obtained with the model. This is one of the first times that observations and modeling were combined to derive chemically based best-fit models for the evolution of high-mass star formation including deuteration.
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