Heterogeneous reactions of alkylamines with ammonium sulfate and ammonium bisulfate

Chong Qiu, Lin Wang, Vinita Lal, Alexei F. Khalizov, Renyi Zhang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

105 Scopus citations

Abstract

The heterogeneous reactions between alkylamines and ammonium salts (ammonium sulfate and ammonium bisulfate) have been studied using a low-pressure fast flow reactor coupled to an ion drift-chemical ionization mass spectrometer (ID-CIMS) at 293 ± 2 K. The uptake of three alkylamines, i.e., monomethylamine, dimethylamine, and trimethylamine, on ammonium sulfate shows a displacement reaction of ammonium by aminium, evidenced by the release of ammonia monitored using protonated acetone dimer as the reagent ion. For the three alkylamines, the initial uptake coefficients (?0) range from 2.6 - 10-2 to 3.4 - 10-2 and the steady-state uptake coefficients (?ss) range from 6.0 - 10-3 to 2.3 - 10 -4 and decrease as the number of methyl groups on the alkylamine increases. A different reaction mechanism is observed for the uptake of the three alkylamines on ammonium bisulfate, which is featured by an acid-base reaction (neutralization) with irreversible alkylamine loss and no ammonia generation and occurs at a rate limited by diffusion of gaseous alkylamines to the ammonium bisulfate surface. Our results reveal that the reactions between alkylamines and ammonium salts contribute to particle growth and alter the composition of ammonium sulfate and bisulfate aerosols in the atmosphere.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)4748-4755
Number of pages8
JournalEnvironmental Science and Technology
Volume45
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1 2011
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Chemistry
  • Environmental Chemistry

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