A photochemical source of peroxypropionic and peroxyisobutanoic nitric anhydride

Abstract

Abstract A method to photochemically generate stable outputs of peroxyacetic, peroxypropionic, or peroxyisobutanoic nitric anhydride (PAN, PPN, or PiBN) in dilute gas streams is described. The PANs are generated by photolysis of excess acetone, diethyl ketone, or diisopropyl ketone in the presence of oxygen and either nitric oxide or nitrogen dioxide. The source output was characterized using a commercial NOy monitor, an in-house constructed thermal dissociation cavity ring-down spectrometer (TD-CRDS) equipped with a heated inlet for quantification of NO2, total peroxyacyl nitrates (∑PAN), and total alkyl nitrates (∑AN), and a thermal dissociation chemical ionization mass spectrometer (TD-CIMS) operated with iodide reagent ion. The TD-CIMS was calibrated (against TD-CRDS) using diffusion sources containing synthetic PAN standards. Response factors of 21, 19, and 5 counts per pptv, normalized to 1 million counts of iodide reagent ion, were found for PAN (monitored at m/z 59), PPN (m/z 73), and PiBN (m/z 87), respectively. The photo source was found to generate the three PANs in high yield. CIMS response factors derived using the photo source and TD-CRDS were identical to those derived from synthetic standards for PAN and PPN; hence, the photochemical PAN and PPN sources may be used to calibrate TD-CIMS (against TD-CRDS). For PiBN, the response factor derived using the photo source was 60% larger than that derived using the synthetic standard, limiting its use to deliver a calibrated stream of PiBN.