AAAR 34th Annual Conference
October 12 - October 16, 2015
Hyatt Regency
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
Measurement of IVOC and SVOCs as Intermediates to SOA Using Online Electron-impact Mass Spectrometry
JONATHAN FRANKLIN, Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz, Jesse Kroll, MIT
Abstract Number: 489 Working Group: Aerosol Chemistry
Abstract Intermediate-volatility organic compounds (IVOCs) and semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) are believed to serve as efficient precursors to secondary organic aerosol (SOA). However, a detailed understanding of the amounts and properties of such compounds in the atmosphere has been limited by the lack of fast and reliable measurements targeting I/SVOCs. A novel method has been developed to provide volatility separated bulk measurements of I/SVOCs. Samples are cryo-collected and then thermally desorbed into an electron impact high resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The high resolution mass spectrometer quantifies volatility-resolved I/SVOCs as well as provides ensemble chemical composition (e.g., elemental analysis) with fast time resolution (one measurement every10 minutes). This technique was applied during atmospheric aging experiments using the environmental chamber at MIT in order to characterize gas-phase oxidation products of many typical SOA precursors in an attempt to close the carbon budget in SOA production.