Search

Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) can influence the radiative balance of the atmosphere via its optical properties. The single-scattering albedo (SSA) and complex refractive index (RI) are the basic optical parameters of the aerosol particles. Toluene SOA particles were formation and aging with extreme amounts of OH radicals without NOx in flow reactor chamber in this study, cavity-enhanced aerosol single-scattering albedometer, UV–Vis spectrometer, and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) were utilized to measure the optical properties and components of the aged toluene SOA, respectively. Experimental results demonstrated that the retrieved real part of RI for aged toluene SOA was 1.452 ± 0.002, which is consistent with the reported data. The measured SSA of aged toluene SOA was 0.78 ± 0.02, slightly lower than that of organic aerosols associated with biomass burning (BBOA), and the k-value (imaginary part of RI, corresponding to the absorption extent of SOA particles) was 0.024 ± 0.002, larger than that of fresh toluene SOA, indicating that the absorbing ability of SOA increased with increasing oxidation level. The obtained UV absorption and electrospray ionization mass spectrum shown that carboxylic acids are identified as the principal constituents of aged toluene SOA, which are responsible for the decreased SSA and increased k-value measured by the albedometer when compared to the fresh SOA. As the rate of production of SOA is greater than that of BBOA, the aged SOA particles may contribute remarkably to the radiative balance of the atmosphere. These would provide experimental basis for refine the radiative forcing estimates of anthropogenic SOA for certain regions.

Ammonia (NH3) gas-aging of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) results in the formation of organonitrogen compound is an important class of brown carbon. The particulate products of aged 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene (135-TMB) SOA in the presence of NH3 were measured by UV–Vis spectrophotometer, attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR), and aerosol laser time-of-flight mass spectrometer (ALTOFMS) in present study. Experimental results indicated that NH3 has significant promotion effect on 135-TMB SOA formation. Organic ammonium salts, such as ammonium methyl glyoxylate, ammonium 3,5-dimethylbenzoate, which are formed from NH3 reactions with gaseous organic acids were detected as the principal particulate products of NH3-aged 135-TMB SOA. 4-methyl-imidazole-2-acetaldehyde, 4-methyl- 1H-imidazole and other imidazole products via the heterogeneous reactions between NH3 and dialdehydes of 135-TMB SOA were newly measured. The formation of imidazole products suggests that some ambient particles contained organonitrogen compounds may be come from this mechanism. The results of this study may provide valuable information for discussing SOA aging mechanisms and new route for NH3 deposition.

Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) from the photooxidation of aromatic compounds is a very complex mixture containing products with a different chemical nature that are dependent on aging processes. In this study, we focus on the chemical characterization of major products that are formed from the OH–initiated oxidation of 1,3,5–trimethylbenzene and subsequent aging through OH–initiated reactions in the presence of NOx.The chemical composition of aged particles were measured in real–time by an aerosol laser time of flight mass spectrometer (ALTOFMS) coupled with Fuzzy C–Means (FCM) clustering algorithm. Experimental results demonstrated that methyl glyoxylic acid, 2–methyl–4–oxo–2–pentenoic acid, 3,5–dimethylbenzoic acid, 2–methyl–2,3–dihydroxyl–4–oxo–pentanoic acid, dimethyl–nitrophenol, 3,4–dimethyl–2–hydroxy–3–oxo–pentandioic acid, 2,4–dimethyl–2,3–dihydroxy–6–oxo–4–heptenoic acid, 2,4–dimethyl–4–hydroxy–2,3–epoxy– heptylic acid, 2,4–dimethyl–2,3,4–trihydroxy–5,6–dioxo–heptylic acid, and oligomer components were the predominant products in the aging particles. The possible reaction mechanisms leading to these aged products were also discussed and proposed.