Tropospheric oxidation of cyclic unsaturated ethers in the day-time: Comparison of the reactions with Cl, OH and O3 based on the determination of their rate coefficients at 298 K

The rate coefficients of the reactions of three unsaturated cyclic ethers, 2,5-dihydrofuran (2,5-DHF), 2,3-dihydrofuran (2,3-DHF), and 3,4-dihydropyran (3,4-DHP), with the major day-time tropospheric oxidants – OH (kOH) and O3 ( k O 3 ) , and that of 3,4-DHP with Cl atom (kCl) are determined using relative rate method, at 298 K. The values of kOH are (6.45 ± 1.69), (11.95 ± 2.79) and (11.38 ± 2.64) × 10−11 cm3 molecule−1 s−1 for 2,5-DHF, 2,3-DHF and 3,4-DHP, respectively and k O 3 are (1.65 ± 0.31), (443.20 ± 79.0) and (31.36 ± 5.80) × 10−17 cm3 molecule−1 s−1 for 2,5-DHF, 2,3-DHF and 3,4-DHP, respectively. The value of kCl for 3,4-DHP is (6.15 ± 0.84) × 10−10 cm3 molecule−1 s−1. The dominant pathway of tropospheric degradation of 2,5-DHF is the reaction with OH, whereas that of 2,3-DHF is the reaction with O3. Reaction with both OH and O3 are equally important in the case of 3,4-DHP. Under the conditions of marine boundary layer, the reaction with Cl atom is important in the tropospheric degradation of 2,5-DHF and 3,4-DHP, but insignificant in the case of 2,3-DHF (only 1.8%). The estimated tropospheric lifetimes in the day-time are 2.0, 0.08 and 0.62 h for 2,5-DHF, 2,3-DHF and 3,4-DHP respectively. The presence of O atom, unsaturation, conjugation etc. influences the rate coefficients in a complex manner. However, there is a good correlation of kOH with HOMO energy, which further improves by treating the molecules separately, either as ethers and hydrocarbons, or as cyclic and acyclic molecules. The values of k O 3 of these ethers fit very well with the straight line regression derived for simple alkenes with their HOMO energy, except 2,3-DHF, which has a high strain enthalpy. The values of kCl also show a similar trend of increase with HOMO energy, but the correlation is not as good as that of kOH.