Yields of beta-hydroxynitrates and dihydroxynitrates in aerosol formed from OH radical-initiated reactions of linear alkenes in the presence of NO(x).

Yields of beta-hydroxynitrates and dihydroxynitrates in aerosol formed from OH radical-initiated reactions of linear C(8)-C(17) 1-alkenes and C(14)-C(17) internal alkenes in the presence of NO(x) were measured using a thermal desorption particle beam mass spectrometer coupled to a high-performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) with UV-vis detector for identification and quantification. For 1-alkenes, total yields of beta-hydroxynitrates normalized for OH radical addition to the CC double bond increased with carbon number, primarily because of enhanced gas-to-particle partitioning, to a plateau of 0.140 +/- 0.009 in the C(14)-C(17) range, with 1-hydroxy/2-hydroxy isomer fractions of 0.7:0.3. When combined with yields measured by O'Brien et al. ( O'Brien , J. M. , Czuba , E. , Hastie , D. R. , Francisco , J. S. , and Shepson , P. S. J. Phys. Chem. A 1998 , 102 , 8903 ) for reactions of smaller alkenes, the results for both 1-alkenes and internal alkenes indicate that the branching ratios for the formation of beta-hydroxynitrates from the reactions of NO with beta-hydroxyperoxy radicals (averaged over both isomers) increase from 0.009 for C(2) up to 0.13-0.15 for C(14) and larger and are approximately half the values determined by Arey et al. ( Arey , J. , Aschmann , S. M. , Kwok , E. S. C. , and Atkinson , R. J. Phys. Chem. A 2001 , 105 , 1020 ) for the corresponding alkyl peroxy radicals. The range of branching ratios may be higher for individual isomers, but this could not be determined. It is estimated that for 1-alkenes, approximately 60-70% of OH radical addition occurred at the terminal carbon atom. Average yields of dihydroxynitrates normalized for OH radical addition were 0.039 +/- 0.006 and 0.006 +/- 0.002 for 1-alkenes and internal alkenes, with differences reflecting enhanced decomposition of beta-hydroxyalkoxy radicals formed from internal alkenes. The addition of NH(3) reduced yields significantly, apparently by altering hydrogen bonding between hydroxy and peroxy groups in hydroxyperoxy radical-NO complexes, whereas adding H(2)O had no obvious effect.