Abstract. Aerosol mass spectrometers (AMS) are frequently applied
in atmospheric aerosol research in connection with climate, environmental or
health-related projects. This is also true for the measurement of the
organic fraction of particulate matter, still the least understood group of
components contributing to atmospheric aerosols. While quantification of the
organic and/or inorganic aerosol fractions is feasible, more detailed information
about individual organic compounds or compound classes can usually not be
provided by AMS measurements. In this study, we present a new method to
detect organic peroxides in the particle phase in real-time using an AMS.
Peroxides (ROOR') are of high interest to the atmospheric aerosol community
due to their potentially high mass contribution to SOA, their important role
in new particle formation and their function as “reactive oxygen species” in
aerosol–health-related topics. To do so, supersaturated gaseous
triphenylphosphine (TPP) was continuously mixed with the aerosol flow of
interest in a condensation/reaction volume in front of the AMS inlet. The
formed triphenylphosphine oxide (TPPO) from the peroxide–TPP reaction was
then detected by an aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS), enabling the
semiquantitative determination of peroxide with a time resolution of 2 min. The method was tested with freshly formed and aged biogenic
VOC and ozone SOA as well as in a short proof-of-principle study with ambient
aerosol.