SOA formation from partitioning and heterogeneous reactions: model study in the presence of inorganic species

Anthropogenic pollutants induce enhancement of aerosol acidity at a mountainous background atmosphere in southern China

Aerosol acidity plays a crucial role in atmospheric physicochemical processes, climate change and human health, particularly in the formation of secondary organic aerosols (SOA). However, understanding the characteristics and driving factors of aerosol acidity in background mountains has been limited. In this study, we conducted intensive field measurements in the Nanling mountains during the dry and wet seasons to analyze aerosol pH characteristics and their driving factors using sensitivity tests. The mean aerosol pH in the background mountains was found to be 2.68 ± 0.55, with values ranging from 0.38 to 4.44, significantly lower than predicted values in northern China. Sensitivity tests revealed that aerosol acidity in the background atmosphere was more responsive to dominant chemical species (T-NH3 (= NH4+ + NH3) and SO42-) rather than relative humidity and temperature. Additionally, we observed that sulfate and ammonium, transported occasionally by dryer northern air masses, had a substantial impact on decreasing aerosol pH at the site. Similar to the southeastern United States, NH4+/NH3 also dominated the total buffer capacity of aerosol acidity in the Nanling mountains. The strong aerosol acidity in this area is expected to have adverse effects on regional air quality and climate by enhancing SOA formation and regulating the dry deposition of inorganic reactive nitrogen.

Abundance of organosulfates derived from biogenic volatile organic compounds: Seasonal and spatial contrasts at four sites in China

Atmospheric organosulfates (OSs) derived from biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) encode chemical interaction strength between anthroposphere and biosphere. We report BVOC-derived OSs in the summer of 2016 and the winter of 2017 at four locations in China (i.e., Hong Kong (HK), Guangzhou (GZ), Shanghai (SH), and Beijing (BJ)). The spatial coverage of three climatic zones from the south to the north in China is accompanied with a wide range of aerosol inorganic sulfate (4.9-13.8 μg/m³). We employed a combined targeted and untargeted approach using high-performance liquid chromatography-Orbitrap mass spectrometry to quantify/semi-quantify ~200 OSs and nitrooxy OSs derived from four types of precursors, namely C₂-C₃ oxygenated VOCs, isoprene, monoterpenes (MT), and sesquiterpenes (ST). The seasonal averages of the total quantified OSs across the four sites are in the range of 201-545 (summer) and 123-234 ng/m³ (winter), with the isoprene-derived OSs accounting for more than 80% (summer) and 57% (winter). The C_2-3 OSs and isoprene-derived OSs share the same seasonality (summer >winter) and the same south-north spatial gradient as those of isoprene emissions. In contrast, the MT- and ST-derived OSs are of either comparable abundance or slightly higher abundance in winter at the four sites. The spatial contrasts for MT- and ST-derived OSs are not clearly discernable among GZ, SH, and BJ. HK is noted to have invariably lower abundances of all groups of OSs, in line with its aerosol inorganic sulfate being the lowest. These results indicate that BVOC emissions are the driving factor regulating the formation of C_2-3 OSs and isoprene-derived OSs. Other factors, such as sulfate abundance, however, play a more important role in the formation of MT- and ST-derived OSs. This in turn suggests that the formation kinetics and/or pathways differ between these two sub-groups of BVOCs-derived OSs.

Significant decreases in the volatile organic compound concentration, atmospheric oxidation capacity and photochemical reactivity during the National Day holiday over a suburban site in the North China Plain

To what extent anthropogenic emissions could influence volatile organic compound (VOCs) concentrations and related atmospheric reactivity is still poorly understood. China's 70th National Day holidays, during which anthropogenic emissions were significantly reduced to ensure good air quality on Anniversary Day, provides a unique opportunity to investigate these processes. Atmospheric oxidation capacity (AOC), OH reactivity, secondary transformation, O₃ formation and VOCs-PM_2.5 sensitivity are evaluated based on parameterization methods and simultaneous measurements of VOCs, O₃, NO_x, CO, SO₂, PM_2.5, JO¹D, JNO₂, JNO₃ carried out at a suburban site between Beijing and Tianjin before, during, and after the National Day holiday 2019. During the National Day holidays, the AOC, OH reactivity, O₃ formation potential (OFP) and secondary organic aerosol formation potential (SOAP) were 1.6 × 10⁷ molecules cm^-3 s^-1, 41.8 s^-1, 299.2 μg cm^-3 and 1471.8 μg cm^-3, respectively, which were 42%, 29%, 47% and 42% lower than pre-National Day values and -12%, 42%, 36% and 42% lower than post-National Day values, respectively. Reactions involving OH radicals dominated the AOC during the day, but OH radicals and O₃ reactions at night. Alkanes (the degree of unsaturation = 0, (D, Equation (1)) accounted for the largest contributions to the total VOCs concentration, oxygenated VOCs (OVOCs; D ≤ 1) to OH reactivity and OFP, and aromatics (D = 4) to the SOAP. O₃ production was identified as VOCs-limited by VOCs (ppbC)/NOx (ppbv) ratios during the sampling campaign, with greater VOCs limitation during post- National Day and more-aged air masses during the National Day. The VOCs-sensitivity coefficient (VOCs-S) suggested that VOCs were more sensitive to PM_2.5 in low-pollution domains and during the National Day holiday. This study emphasizes the importance of not only the abundance, reactivity, and secondary transformation of VOCs but also the effects of VOCs on PM_2.5 for the development of effective control strategies to minimize O₃ and PM_2.5 pollution.

Monoterpene and Sesquiterpene α-Hydroxy Organosulfates: Synthesis, MS/MS Characteristics, and Ambient Presence

Organosulfates (OSs) derived from biogenic volatile organic compounds are important compounds signifying interactions between anthropogenic sulfur pollution and natural emission. In this work, we substantially expand the OS standard library through the chemical synthesis of 26 α-hydroxy OS standards from eight monoterpenes (i.e., α- and β-pinene, limonene, sabinene, Δ³-carene, terpinolene, and α- and γ-terpinene) and two sesquiterpenes (i.e., α-humulene and β-caryophyllene). The sulfation of unsymmetrically substituted 1,2-diol intermediates produced a regioisomeric mixture of two OSs. The major regioisomeric OSs were isolated and purified for full NMR characterization, while the minor regioisomers could only be determined by liquid chromatograph-mass spectrometer (MS). The tandem mass spectra of the molecular ion formed through electrospray ionization confirmed the formation of abundant bisulfate ion fragments (m/z 97) and certain minor ion fragments characteristic of the carbon backbone. A knowledge of the MS/MS spectra and chromatographic retention times for authentic standards allows us to identify α-hydroxy OSs derived from six monoterpenes and β-caryophyllene in ambient samples. Notably, among two possible regioisomers of α-hydroxy OSs, we only detected the isomers with the sulfate group at the less substituted carbon position derived from α-pinene, limonene, sabinene, Δ³-carene, and terpinolene in the ambient samples. This observation sheds light on the atmospheric OS formation mechanisms.

Synthesis of Four Monoterpene-Derived Organosulfates and Their Quantification in Atmospheric Aerosol Samples

Monoterpenes, a major class of biogenic volatile organic compounds, are known to produce oxidation products that further react with sulfate to form organosulfates. The accurate quantification of monoterpene-derived organosulfates (OSs) is necessary for quantifying this controllable aerosol source; however, it has been hampered by a lack of authentic standards. Here we report a unified synthesis strategy starting from the respective monoterpene through Upjohn dihydroxylation or Sharpless asymmetric dihydroxylation followed by monosulfation with the sulfur trioxide-pyridine complex. We demonstrate the successful synthesis of four monoterpene-derived OS compounds, including α-pinene OS, β-pinene OS, limonene OS, and limonaketone OS. Quantification of OSs is commonly achieved using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) by either monitoring the [M-H]^- ion or through multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) of mass transitions between the [M-H]^- and m/z 97 ions. Comparison between the synthesized standards and previously adopted quantification surrogates reveals that camphor-10-sulfonic acid is a better quantification surrogate using [M-H]^- as the quantification ion, while the highly compound-specific nature of MRM quantification makes it difficult to choose a suitable surrogate. Both could be rationalized in accordance to their respective MS quantification mechanisms. The in-house availability of the authentic standards enables us to discover that β-pinene OS, due to the sulfate group at the primary carbon, partially degrades to a dehydrogenated OS compound during LC/MS analysis and a hydroperoxy OS over a prolonged storage period (>5 month) and forms a regioisomer through intermolecular isomerization. Limonene OS was positively identified for the first time in ambient samples and found to be more abundant than α-/β-pinene OS in the Pearl River Delta, China. This work highlights the critical importance of having authentic standards in advancing our understanding of the interactions between biogenic VOC emissions and anthropogenic sulfur pollution.

An SOA model for toluene oxidation in the presence of inorganic aerosols

A predictive model for secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation including both partitioning and heterogeneous reactions is explored for the SOA produced from the oxidation of toluene in the presence of inorganic seed aerosols. The predictive SOA model comprises the explicit gas-phase chemistry of toluene, gas-particle partitioning, and heterogeneous chemistry. The resulting products from the explicit gas phase chemistry are lumped into several classes of chemical species based on their vapor pressure and reactivity for heterogeneous reactions. Both the gas-particle partitioning coefficient and the heterogeneous reaction rate constant of each lumped gas-phase product are theoretically determined using group contribution and molecular structure-reactivity. In the SOA model, the predictive SOA mass is decoupled into partitioning (OM(P)) and heterogeneous aerosol production (OM(H)). OM(P) is estimated from the SOA partitioning model developed by Schell et al. (J. Geophys. Res. 2001, 106, 28275-28293 ) that has been used in a regional air quality model (CMAQ 4.7). OM(H) is predicted from the heterogeneous SOA model developed by Jang et al. (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2006, 40, 3013-3022 ). The SOA model is evaluated using a number of the experimental SOA data that are generated in a 2 m(3) indoor Teflon film chamber under various experimental conditions (e.g., humidity, inorganic seed compositions, NO(x) concentrations). The SOA model reasonably predicts not only the gas-phase chemistry, such as the ozone formation, the conversion of NO to NO(2), and the toluene decay, but also the SOA production. The model predicted that the OM(H) fraction of the total toluene SOA mass increases as NO(x) concentrations decrease: 0.73-0.83 at low NO(x) levels and 0.17-0.47 at middle and high NO(x) levels for SOA experiments with high initial toluene concentrations. Our study also finds a significant increase in the OM(H) mass fraction in the SOA generated with low initial toluene concentrations, compared to those with high initial toluene concentrations. On average, more than a 1-fold increase in OM(H) fraction is observed when the comparison is made between SOA experiments with 40 ppb toluene to those with 630 ppb toluene. Such an observation implies that heterogeneous reactions of the second-generation products of toluene oxidation can contribute considerably to the total SOA mass under atmospheric relevant conditions.