Articles | Volume 18, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-1643-2018
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-1643-2018
Research article
 | 
06 Feb 2018
Research article |  | 06 Feb 2018

Effect of relative humidity on the composition of secondary organic aerosol from the oxidation of toluene

Mallory L. Hinks, Julia Montoya-Aguilera, Lucas Ellison, Peng Lin, Alexander Laskin, Julia Laskin, Manabu Shiraiwa, Donald Dabdub, and Sergey A. Nizkorodov

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Cited articles

Bateman, A. P., Nizkorodov, S. A., Laskin, J., and Laskin, A.: Photolytic processing of secondary organic aerosols dissolved in cloud droplets, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 13, 12199–12212, https://doi.org/10.1039/c1cp20526a, 2011. 
Bateman, A. P., Laskin, J., Laskin, A., and Nizkorodov, S. A.: Applications of high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry to measurements of average oxygen to carbon ratios in secondary organic aerosols, Environ. Sci. Technol., 46, 8315–8324, https://doi.org/10.1021/es3017254, 2012. 
Bloss, C., Wagner, V., Jenkin, M. E., Volkamer, R., Bloss, W. J., Lee, J. D., Heard, D. E., Wirtz, K., Martin-Reviejo, M., Rea, G., Wenger, J. C., and Pilling, M. J.: Development of a detailed chemical mechanism (MCMv3.1) for the atmospheric oxidation of aromatic hydrocarbons, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 5, 641–664, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-5-641-2005, 2005. 
Cao, G. and Jang, M.: An SOA model for toluene oxidation in the presence of inorganic aerosols, Environ. Sci. Technol., 44, 727–733, https://doi.org/10.1021/es901682r, 2010. 
Cocker III, D. R., Clegg, S. L., Flagan, R. C., and Seinfeld, J. H.: The effect of water on gas–particle partitioning of secondary organic aerosol. Part I: α-pinene/ozone system, Atmos. Environ., 35, 6049–6072, https://doi.org/10.1016/S1352-2310(01)00404-6, 2001. 
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We have observed a strong effect of relative humidity on the composition of particulate matter produced from the oxidation of toluene in clean air. At higher relative humidity, there was a significant reduction in the fraction of high-molecular-weight compounds present in the particles. The amount of particulate matter also decreased at higher relative humidity. The main implication of this study is that water vapor participates in the photooxidation of toluene in a complicated way.
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