Photochemistry is a critical component of atmospheric reaction cycles. However, photochemical reactions can be difficult to model in complex environments, such as aerosol particles due to the non-uniform distribution of reactants. Recently, pyruvic acid has been shown to exhibit photochemically-driven reactions with organic surfactant molecules. Reactive molecules, such as pyruvic acid, located near the interface of aerosol particles are more likely to interact with other species due to increased absorption and proximity to outer surfactant layers on aerosols. Understanding the interfacial affinity, preference for the interfacial region of an aerosol, of these photoreactive molecules is key to formulating accurate models of atmospheric reactions. Here we examine the properties of the pyruvate ion, the conjugate base of pyruvic acid, using reverse micelles as proxies of atmospheric aerosols. We prepared the surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium pyruvate (CTAPy). In this case, pyruvate acts as both the target molecule and the counterion to the surfactant headgroup. We prepared CTAPy reverse micelles at varying sizes and examined the carbonyl stretch vibrational modes via infrared spectroscopy. The ketone and carboxylate functional groups show different sensitivities to the local environment.

Quantification of the interfacial properties of pyruvate in aqueous reverse micelles

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.