scholarly journals A new source of methyl glyoxal in the aqueous phase

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (21) ◽  
pp. 31891-31924
Author(s):  
M. Rodigast ◽  
A. Mutzel ◽  
J. Schindelka ◽  
H. Herrmann

Abstract. Carbonyl compounds are ubiquitous in atmospheric multiphase system participating in gas, particle, and aqueous-phase chemistry. One important compound is methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), as it is detected in significant amounts in the gas phase as well as in cloud water, ice, and rain. Consequently, it can be expected that MEK influences the liquid phase chemistry. Therefore, the oxidation of MEK and the formation of corresponding oxidation products were investigated in the aqueous phase. Several oxidation products were identified from the oxidation with OH radicals, including 2,3-butanedione, hydroxyacetone, and methyl glyoxal. The molar yields were 29.5 % for 2,3-butanedione, 3.0 % for hydroxyacetone, and 9.5 % for methyl glyoxal. Since methyl glyoxal is often related to the formation of organics in the aqueous phase, MEK should be considered for the formation of aqueous secondary organic aerosol (aqSOA). Based on the experimentally obtained data, a reaction mechanism for the formation of methyl glyoxal has been developed and evaluated with a model study. Besides known rate constants, the model contains measured photolysis rate constants for MEK (kp = 5 × 10−5 s−1), 2,3-butanedione (kp = 9 × 10−6 s−1), methyl glyoxal (kp = 3 × 10−5 s−1), and hydroxyacetone (kp = 2 × 10−5 s−1). From the model predictions, a branching ratio of 60/40 for primary/secondary H-atom abstraction at the MEK skeleton was found. This branching ratio reproduces the experiment results very well, especially the methyl glyoxal formation, which showed excellent agreement. Overall, this study demonstrates MEK as a methyl glyoxal precursor compound for the first time.

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 2689-2702 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Rodigast ◽  
Anke Mutzel ◽  
Janine Schindelka ◽  
Hartmut Herrmann

Abstract. Carbonyl compounds are ubiquitous in atmospheric multiphase system participating in gas, particle, and aqueous-phase chemistry. One important compound is methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), as it is detected in significant amounts in the gas phase as well as in cloud water, ice, and rain. Consequently, it can be expected that MEK influences the liquid-phase chemistry. Therefore, the oxidation of MEK and the formation of corresponding oxidation products were investigated in the aqueous phase. Several oxidation products were identified from the oxidation with OH radicals, including 2,3-butanedione, hydroxyacetone, and methylglyoxal. The molar yields were 29.5 % for 2,3-butanedione, 3.0 % for hydroxyacetone, and 9.5 % for methylglyoxal. Since methylglyoxal is often related to the formation of organics in the aqueous phase, MEK should be considered for the formation of aqueous secondary organic aerosol (aqSOA). Based on the experimentally obtained data, a reaction mechanism for the formation of methylglyoxal has been developed and evaluated with a model study. Besides known rate constants, the model contains measured photolysis rate constants for MEK (kp  =  5  ×  10−5 s−1), 2,3-butanedione (kp  =  9  ×  10−6 s−1), methylglyoxal (kp  =  3  ×  10−5 s−1), and hydroxyacetone (kp  =  2  ×  10−5 s−1). From the model predictions, a branching ratio of 60 /40 for primary/secondary H-atom abstraction at the MEK skeleton was found. This branching ratio reproduces the experiment results very well, especially the methylglyoxal formation, which showed excellent agreement. Overall, this study demonstrates MEK as a methylglyoxal precursor compound for the first time.


2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 11625-11641 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.-F. Doussin ◽  
A. Monod

Abstract. In the atmosphere, one important class of reactions occurs in the aqueous phase in which organic compounds are known to undergo oxidation towards a number of radicals, among which OH radicals are the most reactive oxidants. In 2008, Monod and Doussin have proposed a new structure–activity relationship (SAR) to calculate OH-oxidation rate constants in the aqueous phase. This estimation method is based on the group-additivity principle and was until now limited to alkanes, alcohols, acids, bases and related polyfunctional compounds. In this work, the initial SAR is extended to carbonyl compounds, including aldehydes, ketones, dicarbonyls, hydroxy carbonyls, acidic carbonyls, their conjugated bases, and the hydrated form of all these compounds. To do so, only five descriptors have been added and none of the previously attributed descriptors were modified. This extension leads now to a SAR which is based on a database of 102 distinct compounds for which 252 experimental kinetic rate constants have been gathered and reviewed. The efficiency of this updated SAR is such that 58% of the rate constants could be calculated within ±20% of the experimental data and 76% within ±40% (respectively 41 and 72% for the carbonyl compounds alone).


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Lambe ◽  
Paola Massoli ◽  
Xuan Zhang ◽  
Manjula Canagaratna ◽  
John Nowak ◽  
...  

Abstract. Oxidation flow reactors that use low-pressure mercury lamps to produce hydroxyl (OH) radicals are an emerging technique for studying the oxidative aging of organic aerosols. Here, ozone (O3) is photolyzed at 254 nm to produce O(1D) radicals, which react with water vapor to produce OH. However, the need to use parts-per-million levels of O3 hinders the ability of oxidation flow reactors to simulate NOx-dependent SOA formation pathways. Simple addition of nitric oxide (NO) results in fast conversion of NOx (NO + NO2) to nitric acid (HNO3), making it impossible to sustain NO at levels that are sufficient to compete with hydroperoxy (HO2) radicals as a sink for organic peroxy (RO2) radicals. We developed a new method that is well suited to the characterization of NOx-dependent SOA formation pathways in oxidation flow reactors. NO and NO2 are produced via the reaction O(1D) + N2O→ 2NO, followed by the reaction NO + O3 → NO2+ O2. Laboratory measurements coupled with photochemical model simulations suggest that O(1D) + N2O reactions can be used to systematically vary the relative branching ratio of RO2 + NO reactions relative to RO2 + HO2 and/or RO2 + RO2 reactions over a range of conditions relevant to atmospheric SOA formation. We demonstrate proof of concept using high-resolution time-of-flight chemical ionization mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-CIMS) measurements with nitrate (NO3−) reagent ion to detect gas-phase oxidation products of isoprene and α-pinene previously observed in NOx-influenced environments and in laboratory chamber experiments.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liang Wen ◽  
Thomas Schaefer ◽  
Hartmut Herrmann

<p>Dicarboxylic acids (DCAs) are widely distributed in atmospheric aerosols and cloud droplets and are mainly formed by the oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). For example, glutaric acid and adipic acid are two kinds of the DCAs that can be oxidized by hydroxyl radical (‧OH) reactions in the aqueous phase of aerosols and droplets. In the present study, the temperature- and pH-dependent rate constants of the aqueous OH radical reactions of the two DCAs were investigated by a laser flash photolysis-long path absorption setup using the competition kinetics method. Based on speciation calculations, the OH radical reaction rate constants of the fully protonated (H<sub>2</sub>A), deprotonated (HA<sup>-</sup>) and fully deprotonated (A<sup>2-</sup>) forms of the two DCAs were determined. The following Arrhenius expressions for the T-dependency of the OH radical reaction of glutaric acid, k(T, H<sub>2</sub>A) = (3.9 ± 0.1) × 10<sup>10</sup> × exp[(-1270 ± 200 K)/T], k(T, HA<sup>-</sup>) = (2.3 ± 0.1) × 10<sup>11</sup> × exp[(-1660 ± 190 K)/T], k(T, A<sup>2-</sup>) = (1.4 ± 0.1) × 10<sup>11</sup> × exp[(-1400 ± 170 K)/T] and adipic acid, k(T, H<sub>2</sub>A) = (7.5 ± 0.2) × 10<sup>10</sup> × exp[(-1210 ± 170 K)/T], k(T, HA<sup>-</sup>) = (9.5 ± 0.3) × 10<sup>10</sup> × exp[(-1200 ± 200 K)/T], k(T, A<sup>2-</sup>) = (8.7 ± 0.2) × 10<sup>10</sup> × exp[(-1100 ± 170 K)/T] (in unit of L mol<sup>-1</sup> s<sup>-1</sup>) were derived.</p><p>The energy barriers of the H-atom abstractions were simulated by the Density Functional Theory calculations run with the GAUSSIAN package using the M06-2X method and the basis set m062x/6-311++g(3df,2p). The results showed that the energy barriers were lower at the C<sub>β</sub>-atoms and are higher at the C<sub>α</sub>-atoms of the two DCAs, clearly suggesting that the H-atom abstractions occurred predominately at the C<sub>β</sub>-atoms. In addition, the ionizations can enhance the electrostatic effects of the carboxyl groups, significantly reducing the energy barriers, leading to the order of OH radical reactivity as  <  < . This study intends to better characterize the losing processes of glutaric acid and adipic acid in atmospheres.</p>


2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 857-876
Author(s):  
M. Rodigast ◽  
A. Mutzel ◽  
Y. Iinuma ◽  
S. Haferkorn ◽  
H. Herrmann

Abstract. Carbonyl compounds are ubiquitous in the atmosphere and either emitted primarily from anthropogenic and biogenic sources or they are produced secondarily from the oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOC). Despite a number of studies about the quantification of carbonyl compounds a comprehensive description of optimised methods is scarce for the quantification of atmospherically relevant carbonyl compounds. Thus a method was systematically characterised and improved to quantify carbonyl compounds. Quantification with the present method can be carried out for each carbonyl compound sampled in the aqueous phase regardless of their source. The method optimisation was conducted for seven atmospherically relevant carbonyl compounds including acrolein, benzaldehyde, glyoxal, methyl glyoxal, methacrolein, methyl vinyl ketone and 2,3-butanedione. O-(2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorobenzyl)hydroxylamine hydrochloride (PFBHA) was used as derivatisation reagent and the formed oximes were detected by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The main advantage of the improved method presented in this study is the low detection limit in the range of 0.01 and 0.17 μmol L−1 depending on carbonyl compounds. Furthermore best results were found for extraction with dichloromethane for 30 min followed by derivatisation with PFBHA for 24 h with 0.43 mg mL−1 PFBHA at a pH value of 3. The optimised method was evaluated in the present study by the OH radical initiated oxidation of 3-methylbutanone in the aqueous phase. Methyl glyoxal and 2,3-butanedione were found to be oxidation products in the samples with a yield of 2% for methyl glyoxal and 14% for 2,3-butanedione.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (14) ◽  
pp. 9209-9239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Bräuer ◽  
Camille Mouchel-Vallon ◽  
Andreas Tilgner ◽  
Anke Mutzel ◽  
Olaf Böge ◽  
...  

Abstract. This paper presents a new CAPRAM–GECKO-A protocol for mechanism auto-generation of aqueous-phase organic processes. For the development, kinetic data in the literature were reviewed and a database with 464 aqueous-phase reactions of the hydroxyl radical with organic compounds and 130 nitrate radical reactions with organic compounds has been compiled and evaluated. Five different methods to predict aqueous-phase rate constants have been evaluated with the help of the kinetics database: gas–aqueous phase correlations, homologous series of various compound classes, radical reactivity comparisons, Evans–Polanyi-type correlations, and structure–activity relationships (SARs). The quality of these prediction methods was tested as well as their suitability for automated mechanism construction. Based on this evaluation, SARs form the basis of the new CAPRAM–GECKO-A protocol. Evans–Polanyi-type correlations have been advanced to consider all available H atoms in a molecule besides the H atoms with only the weakest bond dissociation enthalpies (BDEs). The improved Evans–Polanyi-type correlations are used to predict rate constants for aqueous-phase NO3 and organic compounds reactions. Extensive tests have been performed on essential parameters and on highly uncertain parameters with limited experimental data. These sensitivity studies led to further improvements in the new CAPRAM–GECKO-A protocol but also showed current limitations. Biggest uncertainties were observed in uptake processes and the estimation of Henry's law coefficients as well as radical chemistry, in particular the degradation of alkoxy radicals. Previous estimation methods showed several deficits, which impacted particle growth. For further evaluation, a 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene oxidation experiment has been performed in the aerosol chamber “Leipziger Aerosolkammer” (LEAK) at high relative humidity conditions and compared to a multiphase mechanism using the Master Chemical Mechanism (MCMv3.2) in the gas phase and using a methylglyoxal oxidation scheme of about 600 reactions generated with the new CAPRAM–GECKO-A protocol in the aqueous phase. While it was difficult to evaluate single particle constituents due to concentrations close to the detection limits of the instruments applied, the model studies showed the importance of aqueous-phase chemistry in respect to secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation and particle growth. The new protocol forms the basis for further CAPRAM mechanism development towards a new version 4.0. Moreover, it can be used as a supplementary tool for aerosol chambers to design and analyse experiments of chemical complexity and help to understand them on a molecular level.


2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (42) ◽  
pp. 11776-11781 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Hans Hoffmann ◽  
Andreas Tilgner ◽  
Roland Schrödner ◽  
Peter Bräuer ◽  
Ralf Wolke ◽  
...  

Oceans dominate emissions of dimethyl sulfide (DMS), the major natural sulfur source. DMS is important for the formation of non-sea salt sulfate (nss-SO42−) aerosols and secondary particulate matter over oceans and thus, significantly influence global climate. The mechanism of DMS oxidation has accordingly been investigated in several different model studies in the past. However, these studies had restricted oxidation mechanisms that mostly underrepresented important aqueous-phase chemical processes. These neglected but highly effective processes strongly impact direct product yields of DMS oxidation, thereby affecting the climatic influence of aerosols. To address these shortfalls, an extensive multiphase DMS chemistry mechanism, the Chemical Aqueous Phase Radical Mechanism DMS Module 1.0, was developed and used in detailed model investigations of multiphase DMS chemistry in the marine boundary layer. The performed model studies confirmed the importance of aqueous-phase chemistry for the fate of DMS and its oxidation products. Aqueous-phase processes significantly reduce the yield of sulfur dioxide and increase that of methyl sulfonic acid (MSA), which is needed to close the gap between modeled and measured MSA concentrations. Finally, the simulations imply that multiphase DMS oxidation produces equal amounts of MSA and sulfate, a result that has significant implications for nss-SO42− aerosol formation, cloud condensation nuclei concentration, and cloud albedo over oceans. Our findings show the deficiencies of parameterizations currently used in higher-scale models, which only treat gas-phase chemistry. Overall, this study shows that treatment of DMS chemistry in both gas and aqueous phases is essential to improve the accuracy of model predictions.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bénédicte Picquet-Varrault ◽  
Ricardo Suarez-Bertoa ◽  
Marius Duncianu ◽  
Mathieu Cazaunau ◽  
Edouard Pangui ◽  
...  

Abstract. Multifunctional organic nitrates, including carbonyl nitrates, are important species formed in NOx rich atmospheres by the degradation of VOCs. These compounds have been shown to play a key role in the transport of reactive nitrogen and consequently in the ozone budget, but also to be important components of the total organic aerosol. However, very little is known about their reactivity in both gas and condensed phases. Following a previous study we published on the gas-phase reactivity of β-nitrooxy ketones, the photolysis and the reaction with OH radicals of 4-nitrooxy-2-butanone and 5-nitrooxy-2-pentanone, respectively a β-nitrooxy ketone and a γ-nitrooxy ketone, were investigated for the first time in simulation chambers. Ambient photolysis frequencies calculated for 40° latitude North were found to be (4.2 ± 0.6) × 10−5 s−1 and (2.2 ± 0.7) × 10−5 s−1 for 4-nitrooxy-2-butanone and 5-nitrooxy-2-pentanone, respectively. These results demonstrate that photolysis is a very efficient sink for these compounds with atmospheric lifetimes of few hours. It was also concluded that, similarly to α-nitrooxy ketones, β-nitrooxy ketones have enhanced UV absorption cross sections and quantum yields equal or close to unity. γ-nitrooxy ketones have been shown to have lower enhancement of cross sections which can easily be explained by the increasing distance between the two chromophore groups. Thanks to a products study, branching ratio between the two possible photodissociation pathways are also proposed. Rate constants for the reaction with OH radicals were found to be (2.9 ± 1.0) × 10−12 cm3 molecule−1 s−1 and (3.3 ± 0.9) × 10−12 cm3 molecule−1 s−1, respectively. These experimental data are in good agreement with rate constants estimated by the SAR of Kwok and Atkinson (1995) when using the parametrization proposed by Suarez-Bertoa et al. (2012) for carbonyl nitrates. Comparison with photolysis rates suggests that OH-initiated oxidation of carbonyl nitrates is a less efficient sink that photodissociation but is not negligible in polluted area.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 487-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bénédicte Picquet-Varrault ◽  
Ricardo Suarez-Bertoa ◽  
Marius Duncianu ◽  
Mathieu Cazaunau ◽  
Edouard Pangui ◽  
...  

Abstract. Multifunctional organic nitrates, including carbonyl nitrates, are important species formed in NOx-rich atmospheres by the degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These compounds have been shown to play a key role in the transport of reactive nitrogen and, consequently, in the ozone budget; they are also known to be important components of the total organic aerosol. However, very little is known about their reactivity in both the gas and condensed phases. Following a previous study that we published on the gas-phase reactivity of α-nitrooxy ketones, the photolysis and reaction with OH radicals of 4-nitrooxy-2-butanone and 5-nitrooxy-2-pentanone (which are a β-nitrooxy ketone and γ-nitrooxy ketone, respectively) were investigated for the first time in simulation chambers. The photolysis frequencies were directly measured in the CESAM chamber, which is equipped with a very realistic irradiation system. The jnitrate/jNO2 ratios were found to be (5.9±0.9)×10-3 for 4-nitrooxy-2-butanone and (3.2±0.9)×10-3 for 5-nitrooxy-2-pentanone under our experimental conditions. From these results, it was estimated that ambient photolysis frequencies calculated for typical tropospheric irradiation conditions corresponding to the 1 July at noon at 40∘ N (overhead ozone column of 300 and albedo of 0.1) are (6.1±0.9)×10-5 s−1 and (3.3±0.9)×10-5 s−1 for 4-nitrooxy-2-butanone and 5-nitrooxy-2-pentanone, respectively. These results demonstrate that photolysis is a very efficient sink for these compounds with atmospheric lifetimes of few hours. They also suggest that, similarly to α-nitrooxy ketones, β-nitrooxy ketones have enhanced UV absorption cross sections and quantum yields equal to or close to unity and that γ-nitrooxy ketones have a lower enhancement of cross sections, which can easily be explained by the larger distance between the two chromophore groups. Thanks to a product study, the branching ratio between the two possible photodissociation pathways is also proposed. Rate constants for the reaction with OH radicals were found to be (2.9±1.0)×10-12 and (3.3±0.9)×10-12 cm3 molecule−1 s−1, respectively. These experimental data are in good agreement with rate constants estimated by the structure–activity relationship (SAR) of Kwok and Atkinson (1995) when using the parametrization proposed by Suarez-Bertoa et al. (2012) for carbonyl nitrates. Comparison with photolysis rates suggests that the OH-initiated oxidation of carbonyl nitrates is a less efficient sink than photodissociation but is not negligible in polluted areas.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 1324-1332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Kroflič ◽  
Thomas Schaefer ◽  
Matej Huš ◽  
Hoa Phuoc Le ◽  
Tobias Otto ◽  
...  

Relevance: a kinetic study on aqueous-phase reactions between OH˙ and phenolic compounds reveals structure-related differences in the transition state formation.


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