Large Gas-Phase Source of Esters and Other Accretion Products in the Atmosphere.

Dimeric accretion products have been observed both in atmospheric aerosol particles and in the gas phase. With their low volatilities, they are key contributors to the formation of new aerosol particles, acting as seeds for more volatile organic vapors to partition onto. Many particle-phase accretion products have been identified as esters. Various gas- and particle-phase formation pathways have been suggested for them, yet evidence remains inconclusive. In contrast, peroxide accretion products have been shown to form via gas-phase peroxy radical (RO2) cross reactions. Here, we show that these reactions can also be a major source of esters and other types of accretion products. We studied α-pinene ozonolysis using state-of-the-art chemical ionization mass spectrometry together with different isotopic labeling approaches and quantum chemical calculations, finding strong evidence for fast radical isomerization before accretion. Specifically, this isomerization seems to happen within the intermediate complex of two alkoxy (RO) radicals, which generally determines the branching of all RO2-RO2 reactions. Accretion products are formed when the radicals in the complex recombine. We found that RO with suitable structures can undergo extremely rapid C-C ß scissions before recombination, often resulting in ester products. We also found evidence of this previously overlooked RO2-RO2 reaction pathway forming alkyl accretion products and speculate that some earlier peroxide identifications may in fact be hemiacetals or ethers. Our findings help answer several outstanding questions on the sources of accretion products in organic aerosol and bridge our knowledge of the gas phase formation and particle phase detection of accretion products. As esters are inherently more stable than peroxides, this also impacts their further reactivity in the aerosol.

Computational Investigation of Substituent Effects on the Alcohol + Carbonyl Channel of Peroxy Radical Self- and Cross-Reactions.

Organic peroxy radicals (RO2) are key intermediates in atmospheric chemistry and can undergo a large variety of both uni- and bimolecular reactions. One of the least understood reaction classes of RO2 are their self- and cross-reactions: RO2 + R'O2. In our previous work, we have investigated how RO2 + R'O2 reactions can lead to the formation of ROOR' accretion products through intersystem crossings and subsequent recombination of a triplet intermediate complex 3(RO···OR'). Accretion products can potentially have very low saturation vapor pressures, and may therefore participate in the formation of aerosol particles. In this work, we investigate the competing H-shift channel, which leads to the formation of more volatile carbonyl and alcohol products. This is one of the main, and sometimes the dominant, RO2 + R'O2 reaction channels for small RO2. We investigate how substituents (R and R' groups) affect the H-shift barriers and rates for a set of 3(RO···OR') complexes. The variation in barrier heights and rates is found to be surprisingly small, and most computed H-shift rates are fast: around 108-109 s-1. We find that the barrier height is affected by three competing factors: (1) the weakening of the breaking C-H bond due to interactions with adjacent functional groups; (2) the overall binding energy of the 3(RO···OR'), which tends to increase the barrier height; and (3) the thermodynamic stability of the reaction products. We also calculated intersystem crossing rate coefficients (ISC) for the same systems and found that most of them were of the same order of magnitude as the H-shift rates. This suggests that both studied channels are competitive for small and medium-sized RO2. However, for complex enough R or R' groups, the binding energy effect may render the H-shift channel uncompetitive with intersystem crossings (and thus ROOR' formation), as the rate of the latter, while variable, seems to be largely independent of system size. This may help explain the experimental observation that accretion product formation becomes highly effective for large and multifunctional RO2.

Computational Investigation of the Formation of Peroxide (ROOR) Accretion Products in the OH- and NO3-Initiated Oxidation of α-Pinene.

The formation of accretion products ("dimers") from recombination reactions of peroxyl radicals (RO2) is a key step in the gas-phase generation of low-volatility vapors, leading to atmospheric aerosol particles. We have recently demonstrated that this recombination reaction very likely proceeds via an intermediate complex of two alkoxy radicals (RO···OR') and that the accretion product pathway involves an intersystem crossing (ISC) of this complex from the triplet to the singlet surface. However, ISC rates have hitherto not been computed for large and chemically complex RO···OR' systems actually relevant to atmospheric aerosol formation. Here, we carry out systematic conformational sampling and ISC rate calculations on 3(RO···OR') clusters formed in the recombination reactions of different diastereomers of the first-generation peroxyl radicals originating in both OH- and NO3-initiated reactions of α-pinene, a key biogenic hydrocarbon for atmospheric aerosol formation. While we find large differences between the ISC rates of different diastereomer pairs, all systems have ISC rates of at least 106 s-1, and many have rates exceeding 1010 s-1. Especially the latter value demonstrates that accretion product formation via the suggested pathway is a competitive process also for α-pinene-derived RO2 and likely explains the experimentally observed gas-phase formation of C20 compounds in α-pinene oxidation.

Are Methylaluminoxane Activators Sheets?

Density functional theory calculations on neutral sheet models for methylaluminoxane (MAO) indicate that these structures, containing 5-coordinate and 4-coordinate Al, are likely precursors to ion-pairs seen during the hydrolysis of trimethylaluminum (Me3 Al) in the presence of donors such as octamethyltrisiloxane (OMTS). Ionization by both methide ([Me]- ) and [Me2 Al]+ abstraction, involving this donor, were studied by polarizable continuum model calculations in fluorobenzene (PhF) and o-difluorobenzene (DFB) media. These studies suggest that low MW, 5-coordinate sheets ionize by [Me2 Al]+ abstraction, while [Me]- abstraction from Me3 Al-OMTS is the likely process for higher MW 4-coordinate sheets. Further, comparison of anion stabilities per mole of aluminoxane repeat unit (MeAlO)n , suggest that anions such as [(MeAlO)7 (Me3 Al)4 Me]- =[7,4]- are especially stable compared to higher homologues, even though their neutral precursors are unstable.

Comparing Reaction Routes for 3(RO···OR') Intermediates Formed in Peroxy Radical Self- and Cross-Reactions.

Organic peroxy radicals (RO2) are key intermediates in the chemistry of the atmosphere. One of the main sink reactions of RO2 is the recombination reaction RO2 + R'O2, which has three main channels (all with O2 as a coproduct): (1) R-H═O + R'OH, (2) RO + R'O, and (3) ROOR'. The RO + R'O "alkoxy" channel promotes radical and oxidant recycling, while the ROOR' "dimer" channel leads to low-volatility products relevant to aerosol processes. The ROOR' channel has only recently been discovered to play a role in the gas phase. Recent computational studies indicate that all of these channels first go through an intermediate complex 1(RO···3O2···OR'). Here, 3O2 is very weakly bound and will likely evaporate from the system, giving a triplet cluster of two alkoxy radicals: 3(RO···OR'). In this study, we systematically investigate the three reaction channels for an atmospherically representative set of RO + R'O radicals formed in the corresponding RO2 + R'O2 reaction. First, we systematically sample the possible conformations of the RO···OR' clusters on the triplet potential energy surface. Next, we compute energetic parameters and attempt to estimate reaction rate coefficients for the three channels: evaporation/dissociation to RO + R'O, a hydrogen shift leading to the formation of R'-H═O + ROH, and "spin-flip" (intersystem crossing) leading to, or at least allowing, the formation of ROOR' dimers. While large uncertainties in the computed energetics prevent a quantitative comparison of reaction rates, all three channels were found to be very fast (with typical rates greater than 106 s-1). This qualitatively demonstrates that the computationally proposed novel RO2 + R'O2 reaction mechanism is compatible with experimental data showing non-negligible branching ratios for all three channels, at least for sufficiently complex RO2.

Intersystem Crossings Drive Atmospheric Gas-Phase Dimer Formation.

High molecular weight "ROOR'" dimers, likely formed in the gas phase through self- and cross-reactions of complex peroxy radicals (RO2), have been suggested to play a key role in forming ultrafine aerosol particles in the atmosphere. However, the molecular-level reaction mechanism producing these dimers remains unknown. Using multireference quantum chemical methods, we explore one potentially competitive pathway for ROOR' production, involving the initial formation of triplet alkoxy radical (RO) pairs, followed by extremely rapid intersystem crossings (ISC) to the singlet surface, permitting subsequent recombination to ROOR'. Using CH3OO + CH3OO as a model system, we show that the initial steps of this reaction mechanism are likely to be very fast, as the transition states for both the formation and the decomposition of the CH3O4CH3 tetroxide intermediate are far below the reactants in energy. Next, we compute ISC rates for seven different atmospherically relevant 3(RO···R'O) complexes. The ISC rates vary significantly depending on the conformation of the complex and also exhibit strong stereoselectivity. Furthermore, the fastest ISC process is usually not between the lowest-energy triplet and singlet states but between the triplet ground state and an exited singlet state. For each studied (RO···R'O) system, at least one low-energy conformer with an ISC rate above 108 s-1 can be found. This demonstrates that gas-phase dimer formation in the atmosphere very likely involves ISCs originating in relativistic quantum mechanics.