Thermalized Epoxide Formation in the Atmosphere.

Epoxide formation was established a decade ago as a possible reaction pathway for ß-hydroperoxy alkyl radicals in the atmosphere. This epoxide-forming pathway required excess energy to compete with O2 addition, as the thermal reaction rate coefficient is many orders of magnitude too slow. However, recently, a thermal epoxide-forming reaction was discovered in the ISOPOOH + OH oxidation pathway. Here, we computationally investigate the effect of substituents on the epoxide formation rate coefficient of a series of substituted ß-hydroperoxy alkyl radicals. We find that the thermal reaction is likely to be competitive with O2 addition when the alkyl radical carbon has a OH group, which is able to form a hydrogen bond to a substituent on the other carbon atom in the epoxide ring being formed. Reactants fulfilling these requirements can be formed in the OH-initiated oxidation of many biogenic hydrocarbons. Further, we find that ß-OOR alkyl radicals react similarly to ß-OOH alkyl radicals, making epoxide formation a possible decomposition pathway in the oxidation of ROOR peroxides. GEOS-Chem modeling shows that the total annual production of isoprene dihydroxy hydroperoxy epoxide is 23 Tg, making it by far the most abundant C5-tetrafunctional species from isoprene oxidation.