Study on the reaction of 3-methyl-2-butenal and 3-methylbutanal with Cl atoms: kinetics and reaction mechanism

Abstract

The reaction of Cl atoms with two C5 aldehydes (3-methyl-2-butenal and 3-methylbutanal) were investigated by proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrum (PTR-MS) using smog chamber at 298 ± 1 K and 760 Torr. A relative rate method was used to determine the rate constants of the title reactions with m-xylene and trans-2-butene as reference compounds: (3.04 ± 0.18) × 10−10 and (2.07 ± 0.14) × 10−10 cm3/(molecule⋅sec) for 3-methyl-2-butenal and 3-methylbutanal, respectively. Additionally, the gas-phase products were also identified by PTR-MS, and the possible reaction mechanisms were proposed basing on the identified products. The detected gas-phase products are similar for two C5 aldehydes reactions, mainly including small molecules of aldehydes, ketones and chlorinated aldehyde compounds. The atmospheric lifetimes (τ) calculated for 3-methyl-2-butenal (τ = 7.0 hr, marine boundary layer (MBL)) and 3-methylbutanal (τ = 10.3 hr, MBL) according to the obtained rate constants. The results indicate that Cl atoms at MBL are competitive with OH radicals for the degradation contribution of C5 aldehyde compounds.