UV spectra and kinetics of radicals produced in the gas phase reactions of Cl, F and OH with toluene

Development and validation of a thermally regulated atmospheric simulation chamber (THALAMOS): A versatile tool to simulate atmospheric processes

Atmospheric simulation chambers, are unique tools for investigating atmospheric processes in the gas and heterogeneous phases. They can provide a controlled yet realistic environment that simulates atmospheric conditions. In the current study, a Teflon atmospheric simulation chamber of 600 L, named THALAMOS (thermally regulated atmospheric simulation chamber) has been developed and cross-validated. THALAMOS can be operated over the temperature range 233 to 373 K under both static and flow conditions. It is equipped with state of the art instrumentation (selective ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS), long path Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), various analyzers) for the in-line monitoring of both reactants and products. THALAMOS was validated by measuring the rate coefficients of well documented reactions, i.e. the reaction of ethanol with OH radicals and the reaction of dichloromethane with Cl atoms, in a wide temperature range. Two different detection techniques were used in parallel, FTIR and SIFT-MS, to internally cross-validate the obtained results. The measured rate coefficients are in excellent agreement, both between each other and with the literature recommended values. Furthermore, the gas phase oxidation of toluene by Cl atoms (kinetics and product yields) was studied in the temperature range of 253 to 333 K. To the best of our knowledge, THALAMOS is a unique facility on national level and among a few smog chambers internationally that can be operated in such a wide temperature range providing the scientific community with a versatile tool to simulate both outdoor and indoor physicochemical processes.

Online analysis of gas-phase radical reactions using vacuum ultraviolet lamp photoionization and time-of-flight mass spectrometry

A home-made vacuum ultraviolet photoionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer has been developed and coupled to an atmospheric simulation chamber operated at atmospheric pressure and to a fast flow tube at low pressure (1-10 Torr). Gas sampling from the simulation chamber is realized directly via a capillary effusive beam, and sampling from the flow tube is via a continuous molecular beam inlet. Both devices are connected simultaneously to the ionization chamber of the mass spectrometer and can be switched in-between within minutes to study gas-phase radical reactions of atmospheric interest in a large range of reaction conditions and reaction times (from milliseconds in the flow tube to hours in the simulation chamber). A cage-shaped photoionization source combined with a commercial 10.6 eV krypton lamp has been developed to provide a high ion collection efficiency along the long light path in the cage. This way, a multiplexed detection with high sensitivity down to the sub-parts per billion volume concentration range, e.g., a limit of detection of 0.3 ppbv with an accumulation time of 60 s for benzene and 1.3 ppbv for the methyl radical, is obtained. The performance and suitability of the setup are illustrated by the study of the chlorine-initiated oxidation reaction of toluene in the atmospheric simulation chamber and in the fast flow tube. Stable products and reactive intermediates have been well-determined and their reaction dynamics are discussed.

H-Abstraction reactions by OH, HO2, O, O2 and benzyl radical addition to O2 and their implications for kinetic modelling of toluene oxidation

Alkylated aromatics constitute a significant fraction of the components commonly found in commercial fuels. Toluene is typically considered as a reference fuel. Together with n-heptane and iso-octane, it allows for realistic emulations of the behavior of real fuels by the means of surrogate mixture formulations. Moreover, it is a key precursor for the formation of poly-aromatic hydrocarbons, which are of relevance to understanding soot growth and oxidation mechanisms. In this study the POLIMI kinetic model is first updated based on the literature and on recent kinetic modelling studies of toluene pyrolysis and oxidation. Then, important reaction pathways are investigated by means of high-level theoretical methods, thereby advancing the present knowledge on toluene oxidation. H-Abstraction reactions by OH, HO2, O and O2, and the reactivity on the multi well benzyl-oxygen (C6H5CH2 + O2) potential energy surface (PES) were investigated using electronic structure calculations, transition state theory in its conventional, variational, and variable reaction coordinate forms (VRC-TST), and master equation calculations. Exploration of the effect on POLIMI model performance of literature rate constants and of the present calculations provides valuable guidelines for implementation of the new rate parameters in existing toluene kinetic models.

Probing different spin states in xylyl radicals and ions

Resonant one-color two-photon ionization spectroscopy and mass-selected threshold photoelectron spectroscopy were applied to study the electronic doublet states of the three xylyl (methyl-benzyl) radicals above 3.9 eV as well as the singlet and triplet states of the cations up to 10.5 eV. The experiments are complemented by quantum chemical calculations and Franck-Condon simulations to characterize the transitions and to identify the origin bands, allowing a precise determination of singlet-triplet splittings in the cations. Torsional motions of the methyl group notably affect the D₀ → D₃ transition of m-xylyl. All other investigated transitions either lead to electronic states with very low rotational barriers or suffer from spectral broadening in excess of methyl torsional energy levels. The methyl internal rotational potential is faithfully reproduced with the most basic ab initio methods, yet hyperconjugation could not be identified as a significant force shaping them. Time-dependent density functional theory describes the excited electronic states better than wave function theory approaches, notably EOM-CCSD.

Experimental and computational investigation on the gas phase reaction of p-cymene with Cl atoms

The rate coefficient for the gas-phase reaction of Cl atoms with p-cymene was determined as a function of temperature (288-350 K) and pressure (700-800 Torr) using the relative rate technique, with 1,3-butadiene and ethylene as reference compounds. Cl atoms were generated by UV photolysis of oxalyl chloride ((COCl)2) at 254 nm, and nitrogen was used as the diluent gas. The rate coefficient for the reaction of Cl atoms with p-cymene at 298 K was measured to be (2.58 ± 1.55) × 10(-10) cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1). The kinetic data obtained over the temperature range 288-350 K were used to derive an Arrhenius expression: k(T) = (9.36 ± 2.90) × 10(-10) exp[-(488 ± 98)/T] cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1). Theoretical kinetic calculations were also performed for the title reaction using canonical variational transition state theory (CVT) with small curvature tunneling (SCT) between 250 and 400 K. The calculated rate coefficients obtained over the temperature range 250-400 K were used to derive an Arrhenius expression: k(T) = 5.41 × 10(-13) exp[1837/T] cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1). Theoretical study indicated that addition channels contribute maximum to the total reaction and H-abstraction channels can be neglected. The atmospheric lifetime (τ) of p-cymene due to its reactions with various tropospheric oxidants was estimated, and it was concluded that the reactions of p-cymene with Cl atoms may compete with OH radicals in the marine boundary layer and in coastal urban areas where the concentration of Cl atoms is high.

Theoretical Determination of the Rate Constant for OH Hydrogen Abstraction from Toluene

The OH abstraction of a hydrogen atom from both the side chain and the ring of toluene has been studied in the range 275-1000 K using quantum chemistry methods. It is found that the best method of calculation is to perform geometry optimization and frequency calculations at the BHandHLYP/6-311++G(d,p) level, followed by CCSD(T) calculations of the optimized structures with the same basis set. Four different reaction paths are considered, corresponding to the side chain and three possible ring hydrogen abstractions, and the branching ratio is determined as a function of temperature. Although negligible at low temperatures, at 1000 K ring-H abstraction is found to contribute 11% to the total abstraction reaction. The calculated rate coefficients agree very well with experimental results. Side chain abstraction is shown to occur through a complex mechanism that includes the reversible formation of a collisionally stabilized reactant complex.

High-Temperature Reactions of OH Radicals with Benzene and Toluene

The rate constants for the reactions of OH radicals with benzene and toluene have been measured directly by a shock tube/pulsed laser-induced fluorescence imaging method at high temperatures. The OH radicals were generated by the thermal decomposition of nitric acid or tert-butyl hydroperoxide. The derived Arrhenius expressions for the rate constants were k(OH + benzene) = 8.0 x 10(-11) exp(-26.6 kJ mol(-1)/RT) [908-1736 K] and k(OH + toluene) = 8.9 x 10(-11) exp(-19.7 kJ mol(-1)/RT) [919-1481 K] in the units of cubic centimeters per molecule per second. Transition-state theory (TST) calculations based on quantum chemically predicted energetics confirmed the dominance of the H-atom abstraction channel for OH + benzene and the methyl-H abstraction channel for OH + toluene in the experimental temperature range. The TST calculation indicated that the anharmonicity of the C-H-O bending vibrations of the transition states is essential to reproduce the observed rate constants. Possible implications to the other analogous H-transfer reactions were discussed.

Pressure and temperature dependence of the recombination of p-fluorobenzyl radicals

The rate constants of the recombination reaction of p-fluorobenzyl radicals, p-F-C6H4CH2 + p-F-C6H4CH2 (+M) --> C14H12F2 (+M), have been measured over the pressure range 0.2-800 bar and the temperature range 255-420 K. Helium, argon, and CO2 were employed as bath gases (M). At pressures below 0.9 bar in Ar and CO2, and 40 bar in He, the rate constant k1 showed no dependence on the pressure and the nature of the bath gas, clearly indicating that it had reached the limiting high-pressure value of the energy-transfer (ET) mechanism (k(1,infinity)ET). A value of k(1,infinity)ET(T) = (4.3 +/- 0.5) x 10(-11) (T/300 K)(-0.2) cm3 molecule(-1) s(-1) was determined. At pressures above about 5 bar, the k1 values in Ar and CO2 were found to gradually increase in a pressure range where according to energy-transfer mechanism, they should remain at the constant value k(1,infinity)ET. The enhancement of the recombination rate constant beyond the value k(1,infinity)ET increased in the order He < Ar < CO2, and it became more pronounced with decreasing temperature. The dependences of k1 on pressure, temperature, and the bath gas were similar to previous observations in the recombination of benzyl radicals. The effect of fluorine-substitution of the benzyl ring on k1 values is discussed. The present results confirm the significant role of radical complexes in the recombination kinetics of benzyl-type radicals in the gas-liquid transition range. The observations on a rate enhancement beyond the experimental value of k(1,infinity)ET at elevated densities up to the onset of diffusion-control are consistently explained by the kinetic contribution of a "radical-complex" mechanism which is solely based on standard van der Waals interaction between radicals and bath gases.

High-Temperature Measurements of the Reactions of OH with Toluene and Acetone

The reaction of hydroxyl [OH] radicals with toluene [C6H5CH3] was studied at temperatures between 911 and 1389 K behind reflected shock waves at pressures of approximately 2.25 atm. OH radicals were generated by rapid thermal decomposition of shock-heated tert-butyl hydroperoxide [(CH3)3-CO-OH], and monitored by narrow-line width ring dye laser absorption of the well-characterized R1(5) line of the OH A-X (0,0) band near 306.7 nm. OH time histories were modeled by using a comprehensive toluene oxidation mechanism. Rate constants for the reaction of C6H5CH3 with OH were extracted by matching modeled and measured OH concentration time histories in the reflected shock region. Detailed error analyses yielded an uncertainty estimate of +/-30% at 1115 K for the rate coefficient of this reaction. The current high-temperature data were fit with the lower temperature measurements of Tully et al. [J. Phys. Chem. 1981, 85, 2262-2269] to the following two-parameter form, applicable over 570-1389 K: k3 = (1.62 x 10(13)) exp(-1394/T [K]) [cm3 mol(-1) s(-1)]. The reaction between OH radicals and acetone [CH3COCH3] was one of the secondary reactions encountered in the toluene + OH experiments. Direct high-temperature measurements of this reaction were carried out at temperatures ranging from 982 to 1300 K in reflected shock wave experiments at an average total pressure of 1.65 atm. Uncertainty limits were estimated to be +/-25% at 1159 K. A two-parameter fit of the current data yields the following rate expression: k6 = (2.95 x 10(13)) exp(-2297/T [K]) [cm3 mol(-1) s(-1)].