Amine-amine exchange in aminium-methanesulfonate aerosols

Matthew L. Dawson, Mychel E. Varner, Véronique Perraud, Michael J. Ezell, Jacqueline Wilson, Alla Zelenyuk, R. Benny Gerber*, Barbara J. Finlayson-Pitts

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

34 Scopus citations

Abstract

Aerosol particles are ubiquitous in the atmosphere and have been shown to impact the Earths climate, reduce visibility, and adversely affect human health. Modeling the evolution of aerosol systems requires an understanding of the species and mechanisms involved in particle growth, including the complex interactions between particle- and gas-phase species. Here we report studies of displacement of amines (methylamine, dimethylamine, or trimethylamine) in methanesulfonate salt particles by exposure to a different gas-phase amine, using a single particle mass spectrometer, SPLAT II. The variation of the displacement with the nature of the amine suggests that behavior is dependent on water in or on the particles. Small clusters of methanesulfonic acid with amines are used as a model in quantum chemical calculations to identify key structural elements that are expected to influence water uptake, and hence the efficiency of displacement by gas-phase molecules in the aminium salts. Such molecular-level understanding of the processes affecting the ability of gas-phase amines to displace particle-phase aminium species is important for modeling the growth of particles and their impacts in the atmosphere.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)29431-29440
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Physical Chemistry C
Volume118
Issue number50
DOIs
StatePublished - 18 Dec 2014

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 American Chemical Society.

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