Linking neutral and charged sulfuric acid-ammonia and sulfuric acid-dimethylamine clusters

Abstract

We have used a quantum chemical method to calculate the formation free energies of negatively charged sulfuric acid - ammonia and sulfuric acid - dimethylamine clusters. Using the calculated formation free energies we have estimated the evaporation rates of the clusters. We have compared the evaporation rate of the charged clusters with the corresponding neutral clusters. We found that, although small clusters of sulfuric acid with ammonia and dimethylamine are stable and should be present in the atmosphere, they can not be detected using mass spectroscopy techniques. Charging the cluster will result in the fast evaporation of the base molecules, and they will be detected as pure sulfuric acid cluster.