The chemical processing of gas-phase carbonyl compounds by sulfuric acid aerosols: 2,4-pentanedione

This work investigates the interactions between gas-phase carbonyl compounds and sulfuric acid aerosols. It focuses on understanding the chemical processes, giving a first estimate of their importance in the atmosphere, and suggesting directions for further investigations. The solubility and reactivity of a compound with a large enolization constant, 2,4-pentanedione, in water/sulfuric acid solutions 0–96 wt% have been investigated at room temperature using the bubble column/GC-FID technique. 2,4-pentanedione was found to undergo aldol condensation at acidities as low as 20 wt% H2SO4, that is, well in the tropospheric range of aerosol composition. In agreement with well-established organic chemical knowledge, this reaction resulted in changes of color of the solutions of potential importance for the optical properties of the aerosols. 2,4-pentanedione was also found to undergo retroaldol reaction, specific to dicarbonyl compounds, producing acetone and acetaldehyde. The Henryʹs law coefficient for 2,4-pentanedione was found to be a factor 5 larger than the one of acetone over the whole range of acidity, with a value in water of H (297 K)=(155±27) M atm−1. A chemical system is proposed to describe the transformations of carbonyl compounds in sulfuric acid aerosols. Aldol condensation is likely to be the most common reaction for these compounds, probably involving a large number of the ones present in the atmosphere and a wide range of aerosol compositions. The enolization constant contributes as a proportional factor to the rate constant for aldol condensation, and is shown in this work to contribute as an additive constant to the Henryʹs law coefficient. In addition to the many important aspects of these reactions illustrated in this work, the rate of aldol condensation was estimated to be potentially fast enough for the losses of some compounds in acidic aerosols to compete with their gas-phase chemistry in the atmosphere.