Understanding secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation and growth mechanisms can help us predict their impacts on climate and human health. Iron is the most commonly found metal in the atmospheric environment and has many sources, including mineral dust, meteoritic material, and combustion. VOCs such as catechol and guaiacol are atmospherically relevant compounds produced in biomass burning, which can serve as ligands that form a metal complex that strongly absorbs visible light. It has been shown that in the dark, these complexes will further react and form oligomers (polycatechol and polyguaiacol) that precipitate out of aqueous solution under acidic conditions. It also has been shown that oxalate can suppress this reaction, while sulfate has little effect on it. So far, this mechanism has been investigated only for catechol and guaiacol, but not for other compounds produced in biomass burning. In this paper, several other biomass burning VOCs, including nitrocatechol and coniferaldehyde, are studied. These compounds do produce particles, and light-absorbing complexes with Fe(III). The products are characterized with MALDI-ToF-MS/MS, HPLC-ESI-MS, UV-Vis spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, and other methods.

Characterization of secondary organic aerosol formation by aqueous reactions of iron (III) with biomass burning volatile organic compounds

2019 Fall National Meeting

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