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Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Determination of highly polar compounds in atmospheric aerosol particles at ultra-trace levels using ion chromatography Orbitrap mass spectrometry
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2021) Kwiezinski, Carlo; Weller, Christian; van Pinxteren, Dominik; Brüggemann, Martin; Mertes, Stephan; Stratmann, Frank; Herrmann, Hartmut
    A method using ion chromatography coupled to high-resolution Orbitrap mass spectrometry was developed to quantify highly-polar organic compounds in aqueous filter extracts of atmospheric particles. In total, 43 compounds, including short-chain carboxylic acids, terpene-derived acids, organosulfates, and inorganic anions were separated within 33 min by a KOH gradient. Ionization by electrospray was maximized by adding 100 µL min−1 isopropanol as post-column solvent and optimizing the ion source settings. Detection limits (S/N ≥ 3) were in the range of 0.075–25 μg L−1 and better than previously reported for 22 compounds. Recoveries of extraction typically range from 85 to 117%. The developed method was applied to three ambient samples, including two arctic flight samples, and one sample from Melpitz, a continental backround research site. A total of 32 different compounds were identified for all samples. From the arctic flight samples, organic tracers could be quantified for the first time with concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 17.8 ng m−3. Due to the minimal sample preparation, the beneficial figures of merit, and the broad range of accessible compounds, including very polar ones, the new method offers advantages over existing ones and enables a detailed analysis of organic marker compounds in atmospheric aerosol particles.
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    Separation and quantification of imidazoles in atmospheric particles using LC-Orbitrap-MS
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2020) Teich, Monique; Schmidtpott, Mechthild; van Pinxteren, Dominik; Chen, Jianmin; Herrmann, Hartmut
    A method using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to a high resolution Orbitrap mass spectrometer was developed to identify and quantify imidazoles in aqueous extracts of aerosol particles. The aqueous particle extract was used without further enrichment or sample clean-up. Five columns were tested for efficient separation of ten imidazoles and the Acquity HSS T3 column was chosen for further optimization. Low limits of detection (<25 nM) and good intraday and interday repeatability (<1.6 and <6%, respectively) were achieved. Investigation of matrix effects showed that external calibration is applicable when the loading of organic carbon in the sample is below 10 µg m-3 . The developed method was applied to ten real samples, and six out of the ten test imidazoles were successfully quantified, while six further imidazoles were qualitatively identified, among them 4-imidazolecarboxaldehyde and 4-methyl-5-imidazolecarboxaldehyde. Advantages of the method are the minimal sample preparation, the short run time for each sample, and the low detection limits. These allow for a fast and reliable quantification of imidazoles even in a large number of aqueous particle extract samples.
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    The Importance of the Representation of DMS Oxidation in Global Chemistry‐Climate Simulations
    (Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2021) Hoffmann, Erik Hans; Heinold, Bernd; Kubin, Anne; Tegen, Ina; Herrmann, Hartmut
    The oxidation of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) is key for the natural sulfate aerosol formation and its climate impact. Multiphase chemistry is an important oxidation pathway but neglected in current chemistry-climate models. Here, the DMS chemistry in the aerosol-chemistry-climate model ECHAM-HAMMOZ is extended to include multiphase methane sulfonic acid (MSA) formation in deliquesced aerosol particles, parameterized by reactive uptake. First simulations agree well with observed gas-phase MSA concentrations. The implemented formation pathways are quantified to contribute up to 60% to the sulfate aerosol burden over the Southern Ocean and Arctic/Antarctic regions. While globally the impact on the aerosol radiative forcing almost levels off, a significantly more positive solar radiative forcing of up to +0.1 W m−2 is computed in the Arctic (>60°N). The findings imply the need of both further laboratory and model studies on the atmospheric multiphase oxidation of DMS.
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    CAPRAM reduction towards an operational multiphase halogen and dimethyl sulfide chemistry treatment in the chemistry transport model COSMO-Muscat(5.04e)
    (Katlenburg-Lindau : Copernicus, 2020) Hoffmann, Erik H.; Schrödner, Roland; Tilgner, Andreas; Wolke, Ralf; Herrmann, Hartmut
    A condensed multiphase halogen and dimethyl sulfide (DMS) chemistry mechanism for application in chemistry transport models is developed by reducing the CAPRAM DMS module 1.0 (CAPRAM-DM1.0) and the CAPRAM halogen module 3.0 (CAPRAM-HM3.0). The reduction is achieved by determining the main oxidation pathways from analysing the mass fluxes of complex multiphase chemistry simulations with the air parcel model SPACCIM (SPectral Aerosol Cloud Chemistry Interaction Model). These simulations are designed to cover both pristine and polluted marine boundary layer conditions. Overall, the reduced CAPRAM-DM1.0 contains 32 gas-phase reactions, 5 phase transfers, and 12 aqueous-phase reactions, of which two processes are described as equilibrium reactions. The reduced CAPRAM-HM3.0 contains 199 gas-phase reactions, 23 phase transfers, and 87 aqueous-phase reactions. For the aqueous-phase chemistry, 39 processes are described as chemical equilibrium reactions. A comparison of simulations using the complete CAPRAM-DM1.0 and CAPRAM-HM3.0 mechanisms against the reduced ones indicates that the relative deviations are below 5 % for important inorganic and organic air pollutants and key reactive species under pristine ocean and polluted conditions. The reduced mechanism has been implemented into the chemical transport model COSMO-MUSCAT and tested by performing 2D simulations under prescribed meteorological conditions that investigate the effect of stable (stratiform cloud) and more unstable meteorological conditions (convective clouds) on marine multiphase chemistry. The simulated maximum concentration of HCl is of the order of 109 molecules cm−3 and that of BrO is around 1×107 molecules cm−3, reproducing the range of ambient measurements. Afterwards, the oxidation pathways of DMS in a cloudy marine atmosphere have been investigated in detail. The simulations demonstrate that clouds have both a direct and an indirect photochemical effect on the multiphase processing of DMS and its oxidation products. The direct photochemical effect is related to in-cloud chemistry that leads to high dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) oxidation rates and a subsequently enhanced formation of methane sulfonic acid compared to aerosol chemistry. The indirect photochemical effect is characterized by cloud shading, which occurs particularly in the case of stratiform clouds. The lower photolysis rate affects the activation of Br atoms and consequently lowers the formation of BrO radicals. The corresponding DMS oxidation flux is lowered by up to 30 % under thick optical clouds. Moreover, high updraught velocities lead to a strong vertical mixing of DMS into the free troposphere predominately under cloudy conditions. The photolysis of hypohalous acids (HOX, X = Cl, Br, or I) is reduced as well, resulting in higher HOX-driven sulfite-to-sulfate oxidation in aerosol particles below stratiform clouds. Altogether, the present model simulations have demonstrated the ability of the reduced mechanism to be applied in studying marine aerosol–cloud processing effects in regional models such as COSMO-MUSCAT. The reduced mechanism can be used also by other regional models for more adequate interpretations of complex marine field measurement data.
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    A protocol for quantifying mono- and polysaccharides in seawater and related saline matrices by electro-dialysis (ED) – combined with HPAEC-PAD
    (Katlenburg-Lindau : Copernicus Publ., 2020) Zeppenfeld, Sebastian; van Pinxteren, Manuela; Engel, Anja; Herrmann, Hartmut
    An optimized method is presented to determine dissolved free (DFCHO) and dissolved combined carbohydrates (DCCHO) in saline matrices, such as oceanic seawater, Arctic ice core samples or brine using a combination of a desalination with electro-dialysis (ED) and high-performance anion exchange chromatography coupled to pulsed amperometric detection (HPAEC-PAD). Free neutral sugars, such as glucose and galactose, were found with 95 %–98 % recovery rates. Free amino sugars and free uronic acids were strongly depleted during ED at pH=8, but an adjustment of the pH could result in higher recoveries (58 %–59 % for amino sugars at pH=11; 45 %–49 % for uronic acids at pH=1.5). The applicability of this method for the analysis of DCCHO was evaluated with standard solutions and seawater samples compared with another established desalination method using membrane dialysis. DFCHO in field samples from different regions on Earth ranged between 11 and 118 nM and DCCHO between 260 and 1410 nM. This novel method has the potential to contribute to a better understanding of biogeochemical processes in the oceans and sea–air transfer processes of organic matter into the atmosphere in future studies.
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    Formation of Toxic Unsaturated Multifunctional and Organosulfur Compounds From the Photosensitized Processing of Fluorene and DMSO at the Air-Water Interface
    (Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2020) Mekic, Majda; Zeng, Jiafa; Jiang, Bin; Li, Xue; Lazarou, Yannis G.; Brigante, Marcello; Herrmann, Hartmut; Gligorovski, Sasho
    Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) are ubiquitous at the sea surface. Photochemistry at the air-sea interface is a potentially important source of volatile organic compounds, but the relevant chemical processes are currently not well known. When aqueous solutions containing a mixture of fluorene (FL) and DMSO are irradiated with actinic radiation, a large suite of unsaturated high molecular weight compounds appear in the aqueous phase; a broad variety of saturated and unsaturated oxygenated multifunctional compounds are also observed in the gas phase, most of which are more toxic than FL. A possible sequence of steps leading to some of the observed compounds in aqueous solution as well as in the gas phase is proposed. The reaction pathways initiated by excited triplet state of FL (3FL*) are supported by theoretical calculations of the reaction Gibbs energies. The formation of organosulfur compounds has been observed to occur in the gas and the aqueous phases initiated by the reaction between 3FL* and DMSO. The aforementioned photosensitized chemistry at the water surface can have an important impact on the formation of secondary organic aerosol in marine boundary layer as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and DMSO enriched at the water surface are ubiquitous. ©2020. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.