An overlooked oxidation mechanism of toluene: computational predictions and experimental validations
Zihao Fu, Fangfang Ma, Yuliang Liu, Chao Yan, Dandan Huang, Jingwen Chen, Jonas Elm, Yuanyuan Li, Aijun Ding, Lukas Pichelstorfer, Hong‐Bin Xie, Wei Nie, Joseph S. Francisco, Putian Zhou
Abstract
in the aerosol phase to form less-volatile compounds including novel non-aromatic and ring-retaining organosulfates or organonitrates through reactive uptakes, providing new candidates of AH-derived organosulfates or organonitrates for future ambient observation. With the newly revealed mechanism, the chemistry-aerosol box modeling revealed that the SOA yield of toluene oxidation can reach up to 0.35, much higher than 0.088 based on the original mechanism under the conditions of pH = 2 and 0.1 ppbv NO. This study opens a route for the formation of reactive uptake SOA precursors from AHs and significantly fills the current knowledge gap for SOA formation in the urban atmosphere.