Abstract

Atmospheric aerosols have a significant organic composition as determined by field measurement studies. This organic material is released to the atmosphere from both natural and anthropogenic sources, such as wind bursting of the ocean surface, car exhausts, and meat cooking, among others. An inverted micelle model has been proposed in order to explain the high concentration of organic compounds in aerosol particles. The model describes an organic film coating the air-liquid interface of an aqueous aerosol core. Chemical processing of this organic film by atmospheric oxidants (such as OH radicals, O 3 , and NO 3 ) through heterogeneous and multiphase reactions can activate the aerosol to participate in atmospheric chemistry. After reaction, the particle has an increased role in the absorption and scattering of incoming solar radiation and cloud formation. Another consequence of this oxidation is the decrease of the atmospheric budget of gas-phase trace species, as well as the formation of volatile products. Several studies have proposed that the ozonolysis of organic films in aerosols takes place mainly at the surface. Therefore, the objective of this research was to develop a suitable model system for following the reaction through quantitative changes of a property inherent to the surface. Several attempts were made to examine the ozonolysis of organic monolayers at either solid or liquid surfaces. The studied monolayers contained unsaturated organic compounds as the only component or as part of a binary mixture with saturated compounds. The study of the ozone processing of monolayers deposited on solid substrates revealed information about changes in the hydrophobic character of the surface that occurred because of the reaction. On the other hand, the processing of a monolayer spread on a pendant drop allowed a real-time monitoring of surface pressure changes. This permitted a kinetic study of the reaction that yielded parameters related exclusively to processes taking place at the surface. For instance, the measured reactive uptake coefficient of ozone Þ meas was estimated to be (2.6 ± 0.1) {604} 10 -6 . The versatility offered by the latter system to the study of heterogeneous chemical reactions taking place at the air-liquid interface is explained as well as possible future directions for its utilization are given.