Hydroxyl radicals are often called the "detergent" of the atmosphere because they control the atmosphere's capacity to cleanse itself of pollutants. Here, we show that the reaction of electronically excited nitrogen dioxide with water can be an important source of tropospheric hydroxyl radicals. Using measured rate data, along with available solar flux and atmospheric mixing ratios, we demonstrate that the tropospheric hydroxyl contribution from this source can be a substantial fraction (50%) of that from the traditional O(1D) + H2O reaction in the boundary-layer region for high solar zenith angles. Inclusion of this chemistry is expected to affect modeling of urban air quality, where the interactions of sunlight with emitted NOx species, volatile organic compounds, and hydroxyl radicals are central in determining the rate of ozone formation.
Computational studies at the B3LYP/6-311++G(3df,3pd) and MP2/6-311++G(3df,3pd) levels are performed to explore the changes in reaction barrier height for the gas phase hydrolysis of SO(3) to form H(2)SO(4) in the presence of a single formic acid (FA) molecule. For comparison, we have also performed calculations for the reference reaction involving water assisted hydrolysis of SO(3) at the same level. Our results show that the FA assisted hydrolysis of SO(3) to form H(2)SO(4) is effectively a barrierless process. The barrier heights for the isomerization of the SO(3)···H(2)O···FA prereactive collision complex, which is the rate limiting step in the FA assisted hydrolysis, are found to be respectively 0.59 and 0.08 kcal/mol at the B3LYP/6-311++G(3df,3pd) and MP2/6-311++G(3df,3pd) levels. This is substantially lower than the ~7 kcal/mol barrier for the corresponding step in the hydrolysis of SO(3) by two water molecules--which is currently the accepted mechanism for atmospheric sulfuric acid production. Simple kinetic analysis of the relative rates suggests that the reduction in barrier height facilitated by FA, combined with the greater stability of the prereactive SO(3)···H(2)O···FA collision complex compared to SO(3)···H(2)O···H(2)O and the rather plentiful atmospheric abundance of FA, makes the formic acid mediated hydrolysis reaction a potentially important pathway for atmospheric sulfuric acid production.
Vibrational overtone excitation prepares water molecules in the ‖13〉−, ‖04〉−, ‖12〉−, ‖02〉−‖2〉, and ‖03〉− local mode states for a study of the influence of reagent vibration on the endothermic bimolecular reaction H+H2O→OH+H2. The reaction of water molecules excited to the ‖04〉− vibrational state predominantly produces OH(v=0) while reaction from the ‖13〉− state forms mostly OH(v=1). These results support a spectator model for reaction in which the vibrational excitation of the products directly reflects the nodal pattern of the vibrational wave function in the energized molecule. Relative rate measurements for the three vibrational states ‖03〉−, ‖02〉−‖2〉, and ‖12〉−, which have similar total energies but correspond to very different distributions of vibrational energy, demonstrate the control that initially selected vibrations exert on reaction rates. The local mode stretching state ‖03〉− promotes the H+H2O reaction much more efficiently than either the state having part of its energy in bending excitation (‖02〉−‖2〉) or the stretching state with the excitation shared between the two O–H oscillators (‖12〉−). The localized character of the vibrational overtone excitation in water has permitted the first observation of a bond selected bimolecular reaction using this approach. The reaction of hydrogen atoms with HOD molecules excited in the region of the third overtone of the O–H stretching vibration, 4νOH, forms at least a 100-fold excess of OD over OH, reflecting the preferential cleavage of the vibrationally excited bond.
The reaction of HOD containing four quanta of O–H bond stretching vibration with H atoms produces OD fragments almost exclusively. Vibrational overtone excitation prepares HOD(4νOH) that reacts with H atoms formed in a microwave discharge. The endothermic reaction of water with hydrogen atoms does not occur for ground vibrational state water but proceeds at roughly the gas kinetic collision rate for the vibrationally excited molecule. The production of OD fragments from HOD(4νOH) in the reaction is at least two orders of magnitude more efficient than the production of OH, indicating very selective reaction of the vibrationally excited bond.
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