The physical properties of aqueous
secondary organic aerosol (SOA)
can be influenced by the chemical composition of the solvent matrix
within which SOA-forming reactions take place. The chemical structure
and functionality of perturbing solutes on solution viscosity in bulk-phase
SOA-modeling reaction mixtures containing glyoxal and ammonium sulfate
were measured for a series of oxidized C1–C5 compounds. In general, as the solute concentration increased,
solution viscosity increased, with the magnitude of those increases
dependent upon the solute species added. The presence of glyoxal increased
viscosity in about 50% of mixtures as a result of specific solute/solvent/product
interactions. The oxygen/carbon (O/C) ratio was found to have a linear
relationship with relative viscosity at a high solute concentration
such that every −CH2CH2OH moiety addition
increased solution viscosity by 25%. Solutes with identical O/C ratios
but different structural characteristics (for example, acetone, 1-propanol,
and 2-propanol) showed 7–8% differences in viscosity as a function
of the chain length or ability to act as a hydrogen bond donor. The
addition of an alcohol group increased viscosity by 10–20%
over hydrogen or methyl groups in the same position. The solute structure
appears to play a role in mediating intrasolvent interactions, and
increases in hydrogen bonding and intersolute interactions lead to
increased bulk solution viscosity, as shown in a series of experiments
varying the timing and order of solute addition. These solutes are
models for oxidized aerosol components, and the structure-dependent
results suggest the importance of the aqueous layer functional group
presence on aerosol physical properties, such as viscosity.