Download or read book Characterization of Biogenic Secondary Organic Aerosol Using Mass Spectrometry written by Katherine J. Heaton and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Secondary Organic Aerosol (SOA) forms in the atmosphere from the oxidation of biogenic emissions. Even though SOA has been linked to health and climate effects, the chemical mechanism of SOA formation is not well understood. Through the use of mass spectrometry, this work characterizes SOA during the early stages of growth from the reaction of ozone with monoterpenes, a major biogenic emission. In this thesis, three types of studies are described for analyzing SOA formation: (1) the molecular composition of SOA is studied using the photoionization aerosol mass spectrometer, (2) the atomic composition is studied with the nanometer aerosol mass spectrometer and (3) high resolution mass spectrometry is used to help reconcile atomic and molecular composition data. The monoterpene ozonolysis reactions were performed in a flow tube reactor, where the reaction period could vary from 3s to 22s. The Photoionization Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (PIAMS) detected the formation of oligomers within seconds of the onset of the reaction. Ions that were detected were mapped to dimers that could form via the stabilized Criegee intermediate channel or the hydroperoxy channel. The Nanometer Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (NAMS) analyzed the elemental composition of the SOA which showed the formation of highly polar compounds during the early stages of SOA growth. NAMS also analyzed the changes in the composition of SOA when it formed in the presence of atmospheric species (water vapor, nitric acid vapor and sodium chloride seed particles). The data collected indicated that there is not as much change for endocyclic compounds as there is for exocyclic compounds. Finally, a new off-line analysis technique was created to micro-extract SOA deposited on a plate from the flow tube reactor. The samples were analyzed with the Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometer (FTICR-MS). The FTICR-MS was used to collect molecular and elemental data simultaneously. The FTICR-MS produced accurate mass data that could be used to calculate molecular formulas. This provided a direct comparison of the data acquired with PIAMS and NAMS.