Global molecular gas properties of Seyfert galaxies I. The observational data

In this paper we present large-scale maps of the J = 1 --> 0 transitions of CO and HCN in a sample of 7 near-by Seyfert galaxies. These are the first large-scale maps of CO in NGCs 2273 and 5033 and of HCN in all of the sampl e. From the maps we tabulate the integrated intensities at various extents and calculate the corresponding luminosities. The CO luminosities are compa red with those of Young et al. (1995). It is our intention to use these res ults in conjunction with those of a distant Seyfert sample, in Paper II (Cu rran et al. 2001a), in order to analyse the differences in molecular gas lu minosities and distributions, not only between the full sample and other ga laxy types, but between the near-by and distant samples. Immediately, from the observational data we see that the HCN is distributed beyond the centra l beam (similar to1 kpc) in much of the sample. We consider this to be an i mportant result which we will discuss further in Paper II.