Abstract Number: 520 Working Group: Aerosol Chemistry
Abstract The focus of this project is to determine the physical properties of products formed from the aqueous phase reactions of glyoxal with hydroxyl radicals. Glyoxal and methylglyoxal are the most abundant dicarbonyls in the atmosphere and contribute to the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA). A quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) equipped with a humidity controlled flow cell is used to measure the deliquescence of a variety of reaction solutions. Solutions are aspirated onto the quartz crystal and subsequently dried, then exposed to increasing humidity. Understanding SOA in aqueous aerosols has the potential to eliminate the gap between predicted and measured SOA formed from gas-partitioning. Here, we describe the specific characteristics of the aqueous reaction of dicarbonyls commonly present in the atmosphere as well as the effect of the presence of salts has on the deliquescence of the resultant solutions.