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Iodide-adduct time-of-flight chemical ionization mass spectrometry (I-CIMS) has been developed as a powerful tool for detecting the oxidation products of volatile organic compounds. However, the accurate quantification of species that do not have generic standards remains a challenge for I-CIMS application. To accurately quantify aromatic hydrocarbon oxidation intermediates, both quantitative and semi-quantitative methods for I-CIMS were established for intermediate species. The direct quantitative experimental results reveal a correlation between sensitivity to iodide addition and the number of polar functional groups (keto groups, hydroxyl groups, and acid groups) present in the species. Leveraging the selectivity of I-CIMS for species with diverse functional groups, this study established semi-quantitative equations for four distinct categories: monophenols, monoacids, polyphenol or diacid species, and species with multiple functional groups. The proposed classification method offers a pathway to enhancing the accuracy of the semi-quantitative approach, achieving an improvement in R2 values from 0.52 to beyond 0.88. Overall, the categorized semi-quantitative method was utilized to quantify intermediates formed during the oxidation of toluene under both low-NO and high-NO conditions, revealing the differential variations in oxidation products with varying levels of NO x concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rational delineation of ecological functional areas and clarification of their driving factors are of significance for maintaining regional ecosystem stability. We assessed six ecosystem services of Sihu Lake Basin located in Jianghan Plain using InVEST and RUSLE models and recreational scoring methods. By using K-means clustering, we identified the ecosystem service bundles, and delineated the ecological functional areas in combination with ecological sensitivity and ecosystem service bundles. The dominant driving factors of different ecological functional areas were analyzed by Geodetector. The results showed that the spatial distributions of habitat quality and carbon sequestration services were similar, with high values being mainly concentrated in Changhu Lake Basin and Honghu Lake Basin. However, the spatial distributions of crop production and soil conservation services were different, with high-value areas concentrated in the northwest area with mountains. The high values of water production service were mainly concentrated in the eastern part of Honghu Lake Basin, while the high-value areas of ecological recreation service were mainly concentrated in the northwest area and the southern part of Honghu Lake Basin. The Sihu Lake Basin could be classified into crop production bundle, habitat quality bundle, and urban living bundle according to cluster analysis. The low ecological sensitivity areas accounted for 59.0% of the Sihu Lake Basin. We classified the study area into ecological restoration areas, ecological conservation areas, ecological transition areas, ecological development areas, and comprehensive use areas by combination of ecological sensitivity and ecosystem service bundles. The geodetector results indicated that the driving factors of each ecological function zone were significantly different. The natural factors significantly influenced the ecological restoration zone, while the normalized vegetation index and population density were the main influencing factors in the ecological conservation zone and the ecological development zone, respectively. Land use type was the main influencing factor in the ecological transition zone and the comprehensive use zone. The results could provide important support for coordinated regional social development and environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aromatic hydrocarbons are important contributors to the formation of ozone and secondary organic aerosols in urban environments. The different parallel pathways in aromatic oxidation, however, remain inadequately understood. Here, we investigated the production yields and chemical distributions of gas-phase tracer products during the photooxidation of alkylbenzenes at atmospheric OH levels with NO x present using high-resolution mass spectrometers. The peroxide-bicyclic intermediate pathway emerged as the major pathway in aromatic oxidation, accounting for 52.1 ± 12.6%, 66.1 ± 16.6%, and 81.4 ± 24.3% of the total OH oxidation of toluene, m-xylene, and 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene, respectively. Notably, the yields of bicyclic nitrates produced from the reactions of bicyclic peroxy radicals (BPRs) with NO were considerably lower (3-5 times) than what the current mechanism predicted. Alongside traditional ring-opening products formed through the bicyclic pathway (dicarbonyls and furanones), we identified a significant proportion of carbonyl olefinic acids generated via the 1,5-aldehydic H-shift occurring in subsequent reactions of BPRs + NO, contributing 4-7% of the carbon flow in aromatic oxidation. Moreover, the observed NO x -dependencies of ring-opening and ring-retaining product yields provide insights into the competitive nature of reactions involving BPRs with NO, HO 2 , and RO 2 , which determine the refined product distributions and offer an explanation for the discrepancies between the experimental and model-based results.