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Does atmospheric processing of saturated hydrocarbon surfaces by NO 3 lead to volatilization?
Author(s) -
Knopf D. A.,
Mak J.,
Gross S.,
Bertram A. K.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2006gl026884
Subject(s) - x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , volatilisation , monolayer , hydrocarbon , analytical chemistry (journal) , substrate (aquarium) , chemistry , mass spectrometry , environmental chemistry , organic chemistry , chemical engineering , chromatography , geology , biochemistry , oceanography , engineering
The heterogeneous oxidation of a saturated hydrocarbon monolayer by NO 3 was studied. A flow tube reactor coupled to chemical ionization mass spectrometry was used to determine the reactive uptake coefficient of NO 3 on these surfaces, and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to investigate surface oxidation and to determine if exposure to NO 3 leads to volatilization of the organic substrate. The uptake coefficient of NO 3 by an alkane monolayer is about (8.8 ± 2.5) × 10 −4 , which may lead to competitive oxidation compared with OH, due to the higher atmospheric abundance of NO 3 under certain conditions. The XPS results are consistent with the formation of 1) C‐O groups, 2) ketones or aldehydes, and 3) carboxylic groups. The XPS results also suggest that NO 3 does not rapidly volatilize the organic surface: even under extremely polluted conditions, maximum 10% of the organic layer is volatilized.