Light induced multiphase chemistry of gas-phase ozone on aqueous pyruvic and oxalic acids

Abstract

In this study for the first time it has been shown that pyruvic acid can affect the atmospheric multiphase reactions of ozone with oxalic acid due to its properties as a photosensitizer. To this end, the photochemical batch multiphase reactions of a mixture of pyruvic acid/oxalic acid (PA/OA) and gas-phase ozone under simulated sunlight were studied as a function of time using high pressure liquid chromatography equipped with a UV detector (HPLC-UV) and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) to investigate product formation. Following the simultaneous ozone and light irradiation the first peak for pyruvic and oxalic acids (retention time = 3.68 min) decreased to 67% of the initial intensity after a 12 h reaction while a broad and not well defined peak appeared at longer retention times. After prolonged exposure times this broad peak shifted to shorter retention times: from 14 min at 2 h reaction to 8 min at 12 h. The HPLC-UV analysis of the reaction mixture simultaneously exposed to ozone and irradiated by simulated sunlight for 6–12 h revealed the presence of high weight molecular mass products and formation at longer times of highly non-polar products. The results obtained from ESI-MS have clearly demonstrated that the distribution of high molecular weight products is consistent with an oligomer system. No evidence of oligomer formation was found after the sample (PA/OA) was exposed only to either ozone or irradiated with UV/Vis light using the same instrumental conditions.