Multiphase reactions of organic peroxides and nitrite as a source of atmospheric organic nitrates
Yu Yang,
Liubin Huang,
Min Zhao,
Yan Wu,
Yihang Xu,
Qinyi Li,
Wenxing Wang and
Likun Xue ()
Additional contact information
Yu Yang: Shandong University
Liubin Huang: Shandong University
Min Zhao: Shandong University
Yan Wu: Shandong University
Yihang Xu: Shandong University
Qinyi Li: Shandong University
Wenxing Wang: Shandong University
Likun Xue: Shandong University
Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-8
Abstract:
Abstract Organic nitrates (ONs) are considered as important tracers of secondary organic aerosol formation and are ubiquitous in ambient aerosols. However, the mechanisms of ON formation in the atmosphere are not well understood. Here, we show that ONs can be formed via multiphase reactions of organic peroxides with nitrite. Yields of ONs are measured as 12.8–14.9% at pH 3. The mechanism involves the recombination of a [RO• •NO2] caged radical pair resulting from the homolytic cleavage of alkyl peroxynitrite intermediate. ON yield decreases with the decreasing pH values, which may be ascribed to the positive dependence of its hydrolysis rate on the solution acidity. Additionally, it is found that the second-order rate constant of the reaction is closely dependent on pH and the molecular structure of organic peroxides. Extrapolation of kinetic and mechanistic results to the real atmosphere suggests that this pathway is important for ON formation in aerosols under typical atmospheric conditions, particularly in polluted urban areas.
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-60696-3 Abstract (text/html)
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-60696-3
Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-60696-3
Access Statistics for this article
Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie
More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().