We report on the detection of calcium isocyanide , CaNC , in the carbon-rich evolved star IRC+10216 .
We derived a column density for this species of ( 2 \pm 0.5 ) \times 10 ^ { 11 } cm ^ { -2 } .
Based on the observed line profiles and the modelling of its emission through the envelope , the molecule has to be produced in the intermediate and outer layers of the circumstellar envelope where other metal-isocyanides have previously been found in this source .
The abundance ratio of CaNC relative to MgNC and FeCN is \simeq 1/60 and \simeq 1 , respectively .
We searched for the species CaF , CaCl , CaC , CaCCH , and CaCH _ { 3 } for which accurate frequency predictions are available .
Only upper limits have been obtained for these molecules .