Indoor Surface Chemistry: Developing a Molecular Picture of Reactions on Indoor Interfaces

Experimental evidence that halogen bonding catalyzes the heterogeneous chlorination of alkenes in submicron liquid droplets

“…It is also interesting to consider the implication of these results for indoor surface chemistry. 23,24,38 Sqe, LA and OA are all important constituents of skin lipids, which act as a natural defense against the reactive oxygen and chlorine species. The half-life (s 1/2 ) of Sqe (in the absence of additives) is $56 min under indoor conditions when bleach is used ([Cl 2 ] $ 100 ppb).…”

“…These results suggest that weak interactions, such as halogen bonding, can play substantial roles in controlling the speed at which multiphase transformations occur in the atmosphere and on indoor surfaces. [21][22][23][24][25] Rudich and co-workers 6 observed that classes of chemical reactions that occur slowly in the gas phase (k < 10 À15 cm 3 molecules À1 s À1 ), due to high activation barriers, are enhanced at monolayer organic surfaces that mimic tropospheric aerosol; in some cases by many orders of magnitude. For example, the reaction of bromine atoms with saturated aliphatic lms occurs 10 000 times faster than predictions based upon analogous reactions in the gas phase.…”

Emerging investigator series: chemical and physical properties of organic mixtures on indoor surfaces during HOMEChem

“…Organic lms on indoor surfaces can be formed through the deposition of semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOC) and aerosol particles. [1][2][3][4][5] Due to the high surface area to volume ratio indoors, [6][7][8] these lms play important roles in the chemistry of indoor environments as a medium for chemical reactions 9 and as a location for partitioning of gas-phase molecules including SVOCs as well as ammonium and HONO. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Previous studies evaluating the chemical components of these lms focused on measuring SVOCs.…”

Real‐time molecular characterization of air pollutants in a Hong Kong residence: Implication of indoor source emissions and heterogeneous chemistry

“…However, recent studies discovered the higher‐than‐expected concentrations of hydroxyl radical (OH) in special indoor settings, due primarily to the photolysis of combustion‐related nitrous acid (HONO) 20 and/or terpene‐ozone reactions during cleaning 21 . Besides, the high surface‐to‐volume ratios indoors enhance the possibility and significance of surface reactions, 22,23 accelerating heterogeneous formation of HONO for example 24,25 . Recently, by applying novel tools for studying atmospheric chemistry to indoor chemistry, researchers have made compelling breakthroughs in revealing indoor dynamic source emissions and ozone chemistry 26‐28 .…”