Partitioning of Organonitrates in the Production of Secondary Organic Aerosols from α‑Pinene Photo-Oxidation

• Published in: Environmental science & technology 2022-05, Vol.56 (9), p.5421-5429
• Main Authors: Aruffo, Eleonora, Wang, Junfeng, Ye, Jianhuai, Ohno, Paul, Qin, Yiming, Stewart, Matthew, McKinney, Karena, Di Carlo, Piero, Martin, Scot T
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aerosols; Aerosols - chemistry; Air Pollutants - analysis; Anthropogenic Impacts on the Atmosphere; Atmosphere; Bicyclic Monoterpenes; Chemical partition; Correlation coefficient; Correlation coefficients; Environmental chambers; Fluorescence; Laser induced fluorescence; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Monoterpenes - chemistry; Nitrogen oxides; Oxidation; Particle mass; Partitioning; Photochemicals; Photooxidation; Test chambers; Yield; α-Pinene
• ISSN: 0013-936X; 1520-5851
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.1c08380

The chemical pathways for the production of secondary organic aerosols (SOA) are influenced by the concentration of nitrogen oxides (NO x ), including the production of organonitrates (ON). Herein, a series of experiments conducted in an environmental chamber investigated the production and partitioning of total organonitrates from α-pinene photo-oxidation from 6 ppb NO x , the yield steadily dropped, reaching 0.034 at 24 ppb NO x . By comparison, the yield of pON steadily increased from 0.002 to 0.022 across the range of investigated NO x concentrations. The yield of gON likewise increased from 0.005 to 0.148. The gas-to-particle partitioning ratio (pON/(pON + gON)) depended strongly on the NO x concentration, changing from 0.27 to 0.13 as the NO x increased from