HO2 Yield Research Articles

A new instrument for time-resolved measurement of HO<sub>2</sub> radicals

Abstract. OH and HO2 radicals are closely coupled in the atmospheric oxidation and combustion of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Simultaneous measurement of HO2 yields and OH kinetics can provide the ability to assign site-specific rate coefficients that are important for understanding the oxidation mechanisms of VOCs. By coupling a fluorescence assay by gaseous expansion (FAGE) laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) detection system for OH and HO2 with a high-pressure laser flash photolysis system, it is possible to accurately measure OH pseudo-1st-order loss processes up to ∼100 000 s−1 and to determine HO2 yields via time-resolved measurements. This time resolution allows discrimination between primary HO2 from the target reaction and secondary production from side reactions. The apparatus was characterized by measuring yields from the reactions of OH with H2O2 (1:1 link between OH and HO2), with C2H4∕O2 (where secondary chemistry can generate HO2), with C2H6∕O2 (where there should be zero HO2 yield), and with CH3OH∕O2 (where there is a well-defined HO2 yield). As an application of the new instrument, the reaction of OH with n-butanol has been studied at 293 and 616 K. The bimolecular rate coefficient at 293 K, (9.24±0.21)×10-12 cm3 molec.−1 s−1, is in good agreement with recent literature, verifying that this instrument can measure accurate OH kinetics. At 616 K the regeneration of OH in the absence of O2, from the decomposition of the β-hydroxy radical, was observed, which allowed the determination of the fraction of OH reacting at the β site (0.23±0.04). Direct observation of the HO2 product in the presence of oxygen has allowed the assignment of the α-branching fractions (0.57±0.06) at 293 K and (0.54±0.04) at 616 K, again in good agreement with recent literature; branching ratios are key to modelling the ignition delay times of this potential “drop-in” biofuel.

Experimental and theoretical investigation of the reaction of RO2 radicals with OH radicals: Dependence of the HO2 yield on the size of the alkyl group

AbstractThe HO2 yield in the reaction of peroxy radicals with OH radicals has been determined experimentally at 50 Torr helium by measuring simultaneously OH and HO2 concentration time profiles, following the photolysis of XeF2 in the presence of different hydrocarbons and O2. The following yields have been obtained: = (0.90 ± 0.1), = (0.75 ± 0.15), = (0.41 ± 0.08), and = (0.15 ± 0.03). The clear decrease in HO2 yield with increasing size of the alkyl moiety can be explained by an increased stabilization of the trioxide adduct, ROOOH. This has been confirmed by ab initio and Rice–Ramsperger–Kassel–Marcus master equation calculations. Extrapolation of the experimental results to atmospheric conditions shows that the stabilized adduct, ROOOH, is the nearly exclusive product of the reaction between OH radicals and peroxy radicals containing more than three C‐atoms. The fate and possible impact of these species is completely unexplored so far.

The Reaction between CH3O2 and OH Radicals: Product Yields and Atmospheric Implications.

The reaction between CH3O2 and OH radicals has been shown to be fast and to play an appreciable role for the removal of CH3O2 radials in remote environments such as the marine boundary layer. Two different experimental techniques have been used here to determine the products of this reaction. The HO2 yield has been obtained from simultaneous time-resolved measurements of the absolute concentration of CH3O2, OH, and HO2 radicals by cw-CRDS. The possible formation of a Criegee intermediate has been measured by broadband cavity enhanced UV absorption. A yield of ϕHO2 = (0.8 ± 0.2) and an upper limit for ϕCriegee = 0.05 has been determined for this reaction, suggesting a minor yield of methanol or stabilized trioxide as a product. The impact of this reaction on the composition of the remote marine boundary layer has been determined by implementing these findings into a box model utilizing the Master Chemical Mechanism v3.2, and constraining the model for conditions found at the Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory in the remote tropical Atlantic Ocean. Inclusion of the CH3O2+OH reaction into the model results in up to 30% decrease in the CH3O2 radical concentration while the HO2 concentration increased by up to 20%. Production and destruction of O3 are also influenced by these changes, and the model indicates that taking into account the reaction between CH3O2 and OH leads to a 6% decrease of O3.

Nitrogen and fluorine dual-doped mesoporous graphene: a high-performance metal-free ORR electrocatalyst with a super-low HO2(-) yield.

In this study, we successfully, for the first time, prepared nitrogen and fluorine dual-doped mesoporous graphene (NF-MG) via the thermal treatment of graphene oxide/polyaniline composites (GO/PANI) and NH4F. Benefiting from the synergistic effect of N and F co-doping into the G framework, the oxygen reduction reaction performance of the optimal catalyst (NF-MG3) is comparable with the-state-of-the-art Pt/C catalyst in an alkaline medium, which makes it an ideal candidate as an efficient metal-free ORR electrocatalyst in fuel cells.

Branching ratios in reactions of OH radicals with methylamine, dimethylamine, and ethylamine.

The branching ratios for the reaction of the OH radical with the primary and secondary alkylamines: methylamine (MA), dimethylamine (DMA), and ethylamine (EA), have been determined using the technique of pulsed laser photolysis-laser-induced fluorescence. Titration of the carbon-centered radical, formed following the initial OH abstraction, with oxygen to give HO2 and an imine, followed by conversion of HO2 to OH by reaction with NO, resulted in biexponential OH decay traces on a millisecond time scale. Analysis of the biexponential curves gave the HO2 yield, which equaled the branching ratio for abstraction at αC-H position, r(αC-H). The technique was validated by reproducing known branching ratios for OH abstraction for methanol and ethanol. For the amines studied in this work (all at 298 K): r(αC-H,MA) = 0.76 ± 0.08, r(αC-H,DMA) = 0.59 ± 0.07, and r(αC-H,EA) = 0.49 ± 0.06 where the errors are a combination in quadrature of statistical errors at the 2σ level and an estimated 10% systematic error. The branching ratios r(αC-H) for OH reacting with (CH3)2NH and CH3CH2NH2 are in agreement with those obtained for the OD reaction with (CH3)2ND (d-DMA) and CH3CH2ND2 (d-EA): r(αC-H,d-DMA) = 0.71 ± 0.12 and r(αC-H,d-EA) = 0.54 ± 0.07. A master equation analysis (using the MESMER package) based on potential energy surfaces from G4 theory was used to demonstrate that the experimental determinations are unaffected by formation of stabilized peroxy radicals and to estimate atmospheric pressure yields. The branching ratio for imine formation through the reaction of O2 with α carbon-centered radicals at 1 atm of N2 are estimated as r(CH2NH2) = 0.79 ± 0.15, r(CH2NHCH3) = 0.72 ± 0.19, and r(CH3CHNH2) = 0.50 ± 0.18. The implications of this work on the potential formation of nitrosamines and nitramines are briefly discussed.

HO2 formation from the OH + benzene reaction in the presence of O2

In this study we investigated the secondary formation of HO(2) following the benzene + OH reaction in N(2) with variable O(2) content at atmospheric pressure and room temperature in the absence of NO. After pulsed formation of OH, HO(x) (= OH + HO(2)) and OH decay curves were measured by means of a laser-induced fluorescence technique (LIF). In synthetic air the total HO(2) yield was determined to be 0.69 ± 0.10 by comparison to results obtained with CO as a reference compound. HO(2) is expected to be a direct product of the reaction of the intermediately formed OH-benzene adduct with O(2). The HO(2) yield is slightly greater than the currently recommended yield of the proposed HO(2) co-product phenol (∼53%). This hints towards other, minor HO(2) forming channels in the absence of NO, e.g. the formation of epoxide species that was proposed in the literature. For other test compounds upper limits of HO(2) yields of 0.10 (isoprene) and 0.05 (cyclohexane) were obtained, respectively. In further experiments at low O(2) concentrations (0.06-0.14% in N(2)) rate constants of (2.4 ± 1.1) × 10(-16) cm(3) s(-1) and (5.6 ± 1.1) × 10(-12) cm(3) s(-1) were estimated for the OH-benzene adduct reactions with O(2) and O(3), respectively. The rate constant of the unimolecular dissociation of the adduct back to benzene + OH was determined to be (3.9 ± 1.3) s(-1). The HO(2) yield at low O(2) was similar to that found in synthetic air, independent of O(2) and O(3) concentrations indicating comparable HO(2) yields for the adduct + O(2) and adduct + O(3) reactions.

Measurements of OH and HO<sub>2</sub> yields from the gas phase ozonolysis of isoprene

Abstract. The reactions of ozone with alkenes are an important source of hydroxyl (OH) radicals; however, quantification of their importance is hindered by uncertainties in the absolute OH yield. Hydroxyl radical yields for the gas-phase ozonolysis of isoprene are determined in this paper by four different methods: (1) The use of cyclohexane as an OH scavenger, and the production of cyclohexanone, (2) The use of 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene as an OH tracer, and the diminution in its concentration, (3) A kinetic method in which the OH yield was obtained by performing a series of pseudo-first-order experiments in the presence or absence of an OH scavenger (cyclohexane), (4) The OH and HO2 yields were determined by fitting the temporal OH and HO2 profiles following direct detection of absolute OH and HO2 concentrations by laser induced fluorescence at low pressure (Fluorescence Assay by Gas Expansion- FAGE). The following OH yields for the ozonolysis of isoprene were obtained, relative to alkene consumed, for each method: (1) Scavenger (0.25±0.04), (2) Tracer (0.25±0.03), (3) Kinetic study (0.27±0.02), and (4) Direct observation (0.26±0.02), the error being one standard deviation. An averaged OH yield of 0.26±0.02 is recommended at room temperature and atmospheric pressure and this result is compared with recent literature determinations. The HO2 yield was directly determined for the first time using FAGE to be 0.26±0.03.

Simulation chamber investigation of the reactions of ozone with short‐chained alkenes

Reaction rate coefficients and product yields in the gas phase reaction of O3 with the short‐chained alkenes ethene, propene, 1‐butene, isobutene, (E)‐butene, and (Z)‐butene were determined by Simulation of Atmospheric Photochemistry in a Large Reaction Chamber (SAPHIR). In a first set of experiments, reaction rate coefficients were acquired in an absolute reaction rate study from the measured concentration time profiles of ozone and the alkenes with side reactions being suppressed by adding a radical scavenger. The rate coefficients obtained agree well with literature data; for all but one alkene, the deviation was less than 10%. In a second set of experiments, OH yields were derived from the additional alkene turnover in the absence of a radical scavenger. In contrast to other studies, the OH yields determined in the dry chamber (propene, 0.10 ± 0.07; 1‐butene, 0.00 ± 0.08, isobutene, 0.30 ± 0.14; (Z)‐butene, 0.18 ± 0.09; and (E)‐butene, 0.70 ± 0.12) differed from the yields obtained under humid conditions (propene, 0.30 ± 0.08; 1‐butene, 0.30 ± 0.09; isobutene, 0.80 ± 0.10; (Z)‐butene, 0.40 ± 0.05; and (E)‐butene, 0.60 ± 0.12). The only exception was ethene ozonolysis, where no OH production was observed. HO2 yields (propene, 1.50 ± 0.75; 1‐butene, 1.60 ± 0.80; and isobutene, 2.00 ± 1.00) estimated from the additional ozone turnover compared to the experiments where radicals were not scavenged are reported here for the first time. Furthermore, the yields of the stable ozonolysis products CO, acetaldehyde, and formaldehyde were acquired by monitoring the concentration time profile of the respective compound.

Analysis of HO2 and OH Formation Mechanisms Using FM and UV Spectroscopy in Dimethyl Ether Oxidation

Product formation pathways in the photolytically initiated oxidation of CH3OCH3 have been investigated as a function of temperature (298-600 K) and pressure (20-90 Torr) through the detection of HO2 and OH using Near-infrared frequency modulation spectroscopy, as well as the detection of CH3OCH2O2 using UV absorption spectroscopy. The reaction was initiated by pulsed photolysis with a mixture of Cl2, O2, and CH3OCH3. The HO2 and OH yield is obtained by comparison with an established reference mixture, including CH3OH. The CH3OCH2O2 yield is also obtained through the procedure of estimating the CH3OCH2O2/HO2 ratio from their UV absorption. A notable finding is that the OH yield is 1 order of magnitude larger than those known in C2 and C3 alkanes, increasing from 10% to 40% with increasing temperature. The HO2 yield increases gradually until 500 K and sharply up to 40% over 500 K. The CH3OCH2O2 profile has a prompt rise, followed by a gradual decay whose time constant is consistent with slow HO2 formation. To predict species profiles and yields, simple chlorine-initiated oxidation model of DME under low-pressure condition was constructed based on the existing model and the new reaction pathways, which were derived from this study. To model rapid OH formation, OH direct formation from CH3OCH2 + O2 was required. We have also proposed that a new HCO formation pathway via QOOH isomerization to HOQO species and OH + CH3OCH2O2 --> HO2 + CH3OCH2O are to be considered, to account for the fast and slow HO2 formations, as well as the total yield. The constructed model including these new pathways has successfully predicted experimental results throughout the entire temperature and pressure ranges investigated. It was revealed that the HO2 formation mechanism changes at 500 K, i.e., HCO + O2 via HCHO + OH and the above proposed direct HCO formation dominates over 500 K, while a series of reactions following CH3OCH2O2 self-reaction and OH + CH3OCH2O2 reaction mainly contribute below 500 K. The pressure dependent rate constant of the CH3OCH2 thermal decomposition reaction has been separately measured since it has large negative sensitivity for HO2 formation and is essential to eliminate the ambiguity in the CH3OCH2 + O2 mechanism at higher temperature.

Infrared Frequency-Modulation Probing of Product Formation in Alkyl + O2 Reactions: III. The Reaction of Cyclopentyl Radical (c-C5H9) with O2 between 296 and 723 K

The production of HO2 from the reaction of c-C5H9 + O2 has been investigated as a function of temperature (296−723 K) by using laser photolysis/CW infrared frequency modulation spectroscopy. The HO2 yield is derived by comparison with the Cl2/CH3OH/O2 system and is corrected to account for HO2 signal loss due to competing reactions involving HO2 radical and the adduct c-C5H9O2. The time behavior of the HO2 signal following cyclopentyl radical formation displays two separate components. The first component is a prompt production of HO2, which increases with temperature and is the only component observed between 296 and 500 K. The yield from the prompt production rises from less than 1% at 296 K to ∼23% at 693 K. At temperatures above 500 K a second slower rise in the HO2 signal is also observed. The production of HO2 on a slower time scale is attributable to cyclopentylperoxy radical decomposition. The total HO2 yield, including the contribution from the slower rise, increases dramatically with temperature from ∼2% at 500 K to ∼100% at 683 K. From 683 to 723 K the total HO2 yield remains constant. The second slower rise accounts for a majority of the product formation at these higher temperatures. The biexponential time behavior of the HO2 production from c-C5H9 + O2 is similar to that previously observed in studies of C2H5 + O2 and C3H7 + O2 reactions. The rate of formation for delayed HO2 production from c-C5H9 + O2 is larger than the rate of formation from either C2H5 + O2 or C3H7 + O2 at each temperature. However, apparent activation energies, obtained by an Arrhenius plot of the rates of formation for delayed HO2 formation, are very similar for the three systems (C2H5 + O2, C3H7 + O2, and c-C5H9 + O2). The results suggest a similar coupled mechanism for HO2 production in the C2H5 + O2, C3H7 + O2, and c-C5H9 + O2 reactions, with concerted elimination of HO2 from the RO2 radical responsible for HO2 + alkene production.

Infrared Frequency-Modulation Probing of Product Formation in Alkyl + O2 Reactions: II. The Reaction of C3H7 with O2 between 296 and 683 K

The production of HO2 from the reaction of C3H7 and O2 has been investigated as a function of temperature (296−683 K) using laser photolysis/CW infrared frequency-modulation spectroscopy. The HO2 yield is derived by comparison with the Cl2/CH3OH/O2 system and is corrected to account for HO2 signal loss due to competing reactions involving HO2 radical and the adduct C3H7O2. The time behavior of the HO2 signal following propyl radical formation was observed to have two separate components. The first component is a prompt production of HO2, which increases with temperature and is the only HO2 production observed between 296 and 550 K. This prompt yield increases from less than 1% at 296 K to ∼16% at 683 K. At temperatures above 550 K, a second, slower rise in the HO2 signal is also observed. The production of HO2 on a slower time scale is attributable to propylperoxy radical decomposition. The total HO2 yield, including the contribution from the slower rise, increases rapidly with temperature from 5% at 500 ...

Formation of HO2 from OH and C2H2 in the presence of O2

Pulsed production of OH in a gas-phase system containing acetylene, O2 and NO resulted in biexponential OH-decay curves, indicating formation of HO2 in secondary reactions. Production and detection of OH were performed by 248 nm photolysis of H2O2 and cw-laser long-path absorption at 308 nm, respectively. Measurements were made at room temperature in O2 or N2–O2 mixtures containing 5% O2 at total pressures between 10 and 100 kPa. Analysis of the decay curves resulted in effective rate constants for the removal of OH and the formation of HO2 by acetylene in the presence of O2 in the range (1.4–3.5)×10-13 cm3 s-1, dependent on total pressure and O2 concentration. HO2 is thought to be formed from HCO and O2, with HCO originating in a reaction of an intermediate acetylene–OH adduct with O2. HO2 yields were found to vary between 1.13 and 1.01 and tending to higher values at lower total pressures. These yields are higher than the expected value of 1, which can be explained by a dissociation of a small fraction of vibrationally excited glyoxal formed, together with OH in a second channel of the acetylene–OH adduct+O2 reaction. In order to check whether the increased HO2 yields are real, CO was used instead of acetylene. In this case, an HO2 yield of 0.99 was found, in good agreement with expectations, and a rate constant of (1.66±0.25)×10-13 cm3 s-1 for the OH+CO reaction in 20 kPa O2 was determined. In addition, a rate constant for the HO2+NO reaction of (9.5±1.5)×10-12 cm3 s-1, rate constants for the OH+NO reaction in the range (1.3–7.4)×10-12 cm3 s-1, depending on total pressure, and upper limits for the rate constants of possible reactions HO2+C2H2 (k⩽5×10-15 cm3 s-1) and HO2+CO (k⩽3×10-15 cm3 s-1) were derived. Error limits include statistical (2σ) and possible systematic errors.

Calculated vibrational structure of the first band of the photoelectron spectrum of HO 2 ? and the electron affinity of HO2

The vibrational structure of the first band of the photoelectron (PE) spectrum of HO2− and DO2− has been calculated on the basis of (slightly modified) ab initio potentials. The best agreement with the experimental spectrum of HO2− is obtained for a vibrational temperature of ca. 600 K. “Peak D”, which has been under debate in earlier work, is composed of two transitions, with the “hot” transition 311 being more intense than the adiabatic transition. Since thev2 bending mode of DO2 has significant OO stretching character, the vibrational structure of the PE spectrum of DO2− is more complex than that of HO2−. Large-scale RCCSD(T) calculations of the equilibrium electron affinity of HO2 yield 1.058 eV which agrees with the experimental value of 1.044 ± 0.020 eV.