| Volumes and Issues Contents of Issue 1 |
www.atmos-meas-tech.net/3/301/2010/
doi:10.5194/amt-3-301-2010
© Author(s) 2010. This work is distributed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Elemental analysis of aerosol organic nitrates with electron ionization high-resolution mass spectrometry
1Department of Chemistry, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94721, USA
2Chemistry Department, Reed College, Portland, OR 97202, USA
3Aerosol and Cloud Chemistry, Aerodyne Research Inc., Billerica, MA 01821, USA
4Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94721, USA
*now at: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Abstract. Four hydroxynitrates (R(OH)R'ONO2) representative of atmospheric volatile organic compound (VOC) oxidation products were synthesized, nebulized and sampled into an Aerodyne High Resolution Time of Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS). The resulting mass spectrum was used to evaluate calibration factors for elemental analysis of organic nitrates by AMS, and to determine the distribution of nitrogen in the detected fragments in a search for an AMS signature of organic nitrates. We found that 30% of the detected nitrogen mass is in the NO+ and NO2+ fragments, 12% at NHx+ fragments, 5% at CxHyOzN+ fragments, and 53% at various CxHyN+ fragments. Elemental analysis indicated that nitrogen was detected with higher efficiency than carbon and hydrogen, but oxygen was detected with reduced efficiency compared to previously reported results for a suite of organics which did not include organic nitrates. The results are used to suggest the maximum corrections to ambient O:C and N:C ratios based on AMS measurements.
Final Revised Paper (PDF, 1467 KB) Supplement (1327 KB) Discussion Paper (AMTD)
Citation: Rollins, A. W., Fry, J. L., Hunter, J. F., Kroll, J. H., Worsnop, D. R., Singaram, S. W., and Cohen, R. C.: Elemental analysis of aerosol organic nitrates with electron ionization high-resolution mass spectrometry, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 3, 301-310, doi:10.5194/amt-3-301-2010, 2010. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager XML
