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Molecular understanding of atmospheric particle formation from sulfuric acid and large oxidized organic molecules

2013; National Academy of Sciences; Volume: 110; Issue: 43 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1073/pnas.1306973110

1091-6490

Siegfried Schobesberger, Heikki Junninen, Federico Bianchi, G. Lönn, Mikael Ehn, Katrianne Lehtipalo, Josef Dommen, Sebastian Ehrhart, Ismaël K. Ortega, Alessandro Franchin, Tuomo Nieminen, Francesco Riccobono, M. A. Hutterli, Jonathan Duplissy, J. Almeida, A. Amorim, Martin Breitenlechner, A. Downard, E. M. Dunne, Richard C. Flagan, M. K. Kajos, Helmi Keskinen, J. Kirkby, Agnieszka Kupc, Andreas Kürten, Theo Kurtén, Ari Laaksonen, Serge Mathot, Antti Onnela, Arnaud P. Praplan, L. Rondo, Filipe Duarte Santos, Simon Schallhart, R. Schnitzhofer, Mikko Sipilä, António Tomé, Georgios Tsagkogeorgas, Hanna Vehkamäki, Daniela Wimmer, Urs Baltensperger, K. S. Carslaw, Joachim Curtius, Armin Hansel, Tuukka Petäjä, Markku Kulmala, Neil M. Donahue, Douglas R. Worsnop,

Atmospheric aerosols and clouds

Significance The formation of nanoparticles by condensable vapors in the atmosphere influences radiative forcing and therefore climate. We explored the detailed mechanism of particle formation, in particular the role of oxidized organic molecules that arise from the oxidation of monoterpenes, a class of volatile organic compounds emitted from plants. We mimicked atmospheric conditions in a well-controlled laboratory setup and found that these oxidized organics form initial clusters directly with single sulfuric acid molecules. The clusters then grow by the further addition of both sulfuric acid and organic molecules. Some of the organics are remarkably highly oxidized, a critical feature that enables them to participate in forming initial stable molecular clusters and to facilitate the first steps of atmospheric nanoparticle formation.