Study of the Atmospheric Chemistry of 2-Formylcinnamaldehyde

Abstract

2-Formylcinnamaldehyde is a significant product of the reaction of naphthalene with OH radicals, and its photolysis and gas-phase reactions with O3, NO3 radicals, and OH radicals have been investigated in this work. 2-Formylcinnamaldehyde was observed to undergo photolysis by black lamps, with a photolysis rate of 0.14 × J(NO2), where J(NO2) is the NO2 photolysis rate. The measured rate constants for the reactions of 2-formylcinnamaldehyde with O3, NO3 radicals, and OH radicals (in units of cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1)) were 1.8 × 10(-18), 4.3 × 10(-14), and 2.1 × 10(-11), respectively, with those for the O3 and NO3 reactions being for the E-isomer. 2-Formylcinnamaldehyde was observed to undergo significant adsorption and desorption from the reaction chamber Teflon film walls, and the photolysis rate and rate constants are subject to significant uncertainties. In the atmosphere, the dominant chemical loss processes for 2-formylcinnamaldehyde will be photolysis during daylight hours and reaction with NO3 radicals during nighttime. Phthaldialdehyde and glyoxal were observed as products of the OH radical and O3 reactions, and photolysis of E-2-formylcinnamaldehyde led to formation of Z-2-formylcinnamaldehyde plus two other molecular weight 160 isomers. The present results are compared with previous literature data, and reaction mechanisms are discussed.