Secondary organic aerosol （SOA） formed from Cl-initiated oxidation of toluene was investigated in a home-made smog chamber. The size distribution and chemical composition of SOA particles were measured using aerodynamic particle sizer spectrometer and the aerosol laser time-of-flight mass spectrometer （ALTOFMS）, respectively. According to a large number of single aerosol diameter and mass spectra, the size distribution and chemical composition of SOA were obtained statistically. Experimental results showed that SOA particles created by Cl-initiated oxidation of toluene is predominantly in the form of fine particles, which have diameters less than 2.5 μm （i.e., PM2.5）, and glyoxal, benzaldehyde, benzyl alcohol, benzoquinone, benzoic acid, benzyl hydroperoxide and benzyl methyl nitrate are the major products components in the SOA. The possible reaction mechanisms leading to these products are also proposed.
The gas-phase organic compounds resulting from OH-initiated photooxidation of isoprene have been investigated on-line by VUV photoiortization mass spectrometry based on synchrotron radiation for the first time. The photoionization efficiency curves of the corresponding gaseous products as well as the chosen standards have been deduced by gating the interested peaks in the photoionization mass spectra while scanning the photon energy simultaneously, which permits the identification of the pivotal gaseous products of the photooxidation of isoprene, such as formaldehyde （10.84 eV）, formic acid （11.38 eV）, acetone （9.68 eV）, glyoxal （9.84 eV）, acetic acid （10.75 eV）, methacrolein （9.91 eV）, and methyl vinyl ketone （9.66 eV）. Proposed reaction mechanisms leading to the formation of these key products were discussed, which were completely consistent with the previous works of different groups. The capability of synchrotron radiation photoionization mass spectrometry to directly identify the chemical composition of the gaseous products in a simulation chamber has been demonstrated, and its potential application in related studies of atmospheric oxidation of ambient volatile organic compounds is anticipated.
Smog chamber experiments were performed to investigate the composition of products formed from photooxidation of aromatic hydrocarbon ethylbenzene. Vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometer and aerosol time-of-flight mass spectrometer were used to measure the products in the gas and particle phases in real-time. Experimental results demonstrated that ethylphenol, methylglyoxal, phenol, benzaldehyde, and 2-ethylfurane were the predominant photooxidation products in both the gas and particle phases. However, there were some differences between detected gas phase products and those of particle phase, for example, 2-ethylfurane, ethylglyoxylic acid, nitroethylbenzene, 3,4-dioxopentanal and ethyl-nitrophenol were only existing in the particle-phase. The possible reaction mechanisms leading to these products were also discussed and proposed.
