No abstract

Much of our understanding of atmospheric secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation from volatile organic compounds derives from laboratory chamber measurements, including mass yield and elemental composition. These measurements alone are insufficient to identify the chemical mechanisms of SOA production. We present here a comprehensive dataset on the molecular identity, abundance, and kinetics of α-pinene SOA, a canonical system that has received much attention owing to its importance as an organic aerosol source in the pristine atmosphere. Identified organic species account for ∼58-72% of the α-pinene SOA mass, and are characterized as semivolatile/low-volatility monomers and extremely low volatility dimers, which exhibit comparable oxidation states yet different functionalities. Features of the α-pinene SOA formation process are revealed for the first time, to our knowledge, from the dynamics of individual particle-phase components. Although monomeric products dominate the overall aerosol mass, rapid production of dimers plays a key role in initiating particle growth. Continuous production of monomers is observed after the parent α-pinene is consumed, which cannot be explained solely by gasphase photochemical production. Additionally, distinct responses of monomers and dimers to α-pinene oxidation by ozone vs. hydroxyl radicals, temperature, and relative humidity are observed. Gas-phase radical combination reactions together with condensed phase rearrangement of labile molecules potentially explain the newly characterized SOA features, thereby opening up further avenues for understanding formation and evolution mechanisms of α-pinene SOA.secondary organic aerosol | particulate matter | air quality | climate S econdary organic aerosol (SOA), comprising a large number of structurally different organic oxygenates, is a dominant constituent of submicrometer atmospheric particulate matter (1). Molecular characterization of SOA has been a major research goal in atmospheric chemistry for several decades (2), owing to the importance of organic aerosol in air quality and Earth's energy budget. Both biogenic (e.g., isoprene, monoterpenes) and anthropogenic (e.g., aromatics, large alkanes) organic compounds are well-established precursors to SOA. Knowledge of the SOA molecular composition is crucial for elucidation of its underlying formation mechanisms.The most abundant monoterpene in the troposphere is α-pinene (3). The oxidation of α-pinene by ozone has become a canonical SOA system (4-12). Identification of multifunctional particlephase products has been reported, including monomers with carboxylic acid moieties (4, 6) and high-molecular-weight compounds (7,8,12), although molecular structures and formation pathways of oligomers remain uncertain (5). Recently, a class of extremely low-volatility gas-phase organic compounds (ELVOCs) has been identified as an important component in the α-pinene ozonolysis chemistry (13). Identification of the ELVOCs in the particle phase and elucidation of the mechanism of their format...

Abstract. Organic compounds emitted in the atmosphere are oxidized in complex reaction sequences that produce a myriad of intermediates. Although the cumulative importance of these organic intermediates is widely acknowledged, there is still a critical lack of information concerning the detailed composition of the highly functionalized secondary organics in the gas and condensed phases. The evaluation of their impacts on pollution episodes, climate, and the tropospheric oxidizing capacity requires modelling tools that track the identity and reactivity of organic carbon in the various phases down to the ultimate oxidation products, CO and CO 2 . However, a fully detailed representation of the atmospheric transformations of organic compounds involves a very large number of intermediate species, far in excess of the number that can be reasonably written manually. This paper describes (1) the development of a data processing tool to generate the explicit gas-phase oxidation schemes of acyclic hydrocarbons and their oxidation products under tropospheric conditions and (2) the protocol used to select the reaction products and the rate constants. Results are presented using the fully explicit oxidation schemes generated for two test species: n-heptane and isoprene. Comparisons with wellestablished mechanisms were performed to evaluate these generated schemes. Some preliminary results describing the gradual change of organic carbon during the oxidation of a given parent compound are presented.

The sensitivity of the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) to the estimated vapour pressures of the condensable oxidation products is explored. A highly detailed reaction scheme was generated for α-pinene photooxidation using the Generator for Explicit Chemistry and Kinetics of Organics in the Atmosphere (GECKO-A). Vapour pressures (<I>P</I>^vap) were estimated with three commonly used structure activity relationships. The values of <I>P</I>^vap were compared for the set of secondary species generated by GECKO-A to describe α-pinene oxidation. Discrepancies in the predicted vapour pressures were found to increase with the number of functional groups borne by the species. For semi-volatile organic compounds (i.e. organic species of interest for SOA formation), differences in the predicted <I>P</I>^vap range between a factor of 5 to 200 on average. The simulated SOA concentrations were compared to SOA observations in the Caltech chamber during three experiments performed under a range of NO_x conditions. While the model captures the qualitative features of SOA formation for the chamber experiments, SOA concentrations are systematically overestimated. For the conditions simulated, the modelled SOA speciation appears to be rather insensitive to the <I>P</I>^vap estimation method

Organic peroxy radicals (RO 2 ), formed from the degradation of hydrocarbons and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs), play a key role in tropospheric oxidation mechanisms. Several competing reactions may be available for a given RO 2 radical, the relative rates of which depend on both the structure of RO 2 and the ambient conditions. Published kinetics and branching ratio data are reviewed for the bimolecular reactions of RO 2 with NO, NO 2 , NO 3 , OH and HO 2 ; and for their self-reactions and cross-reactions with other RO 2 radicals. This information is used to define generic rate coefficients and structure-activity relationship (SAR) methods that can be applied to the bimolecular reactions of a series of important classes of hydrocarbon and oxygenated RO 2 radicals. Information for selected unimolecular isomerization reactions (i.e. H-atom shift and ring-closure reactions) is also summarized and discussed. The methods presented here are intended to guide the representation of RO 2 radical chemistry in the next generation of explicit detailed chemical mechanisms.Under tropospheric conditions, a given RO 2 radical may have several competing reactions available, the relative rates of which are dependent both on the prevailing ambient conditions and on the structure of RO 2 . These include a series of bimolecular reactions (i.e. with NO, NO 2 , NO 3 , OH and HO 2 ; and the self-reaction and cross-reactions with the multitude of other RO 2 radicals present in the atmosphere), which are generally available for all RO 2 radicals; and specific unimolecular isomerization reactions (i.e. H-atom shiftPublished by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union.

The Henry's law constant is a key property needed to address the multiphase behaviour of organics in the atmosphere. Methods that can reliably predict the values for the vast number of organic compounds of atmospheric interest are therefore required. The effective Henry's law constant <i>H</i>^* in air-water systems at 298 K was compiled from literature for 488 organic compounds bearing functional groups of atmospheric relevance. This data set was used to assess the reliability of the HENRYWIN bond contribution method and the SPARC approach for the determination of <i>H</i>^*. Moreover, this data set was used to develop GROMHE, a new Structure Activity Relationship (SAR) based on a group contribution approach. These methods estimate log<i>H</i>^* with a Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 0.38, 0.61, and 0.73 log units for GROMHE, SPARC and HENRYWIN respectively. The results show that for all these methods the reliability of the estimates decreases with increasing solubility. The main differences among these methods lie in <i>H</i>^* prediction for compounds with <i>H</i>^* greater than 10³ M atm^&minus;1. For these compounds, the predicted values of log<i>H</i>^* using GROMHE are more accurate (RMSE = 0.53) than the estimates from SPARC or HENRYWIN

No abstract

Abstract. Reaction with the hydroxyl (OH) radical is the dominant removal process for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the atmosphere. Rate coefficients for reactions of OH with VOCs are therefore essential parameters for chemical mechanisms used in chemistry transport models, and are required more generally for impact assessments involving the estimation of atmospheric lifetimes or oxidation rates for VOCs. Updated and extended structure–activity relationship (SAR) methods are presented for the reactions of OH with aliphatic organic compounds, with the reactions of aromatic organic compounds considered in a companion paper. The methods are optimized using a preferred set of data including reactions of OH with 489 aliphatic hydrocarbons and oxygenated organic compounds. In each case, the rate coefficient is defined in terms of a summation of partial rate coefficients for H abstraction or OH addition at each relevant site in the given organic compound, so that the attack distribution is defined. The information can therefore guide the representation of the OH reactions in the next generation of explicit detailed chemical mechanisms. Rules governing the representation of the subsequent reactions of the product radicals under tropospheric conditions are also summarized, specifically their reactions with O2 and competing processes.