Photo-tautomerization of acetaldehyde as a photochemical source of formic acid in the troposphere

Miranda F. Shaw; Bálint Sztáray; Lisa K. Whalley; Dwayne E. Heard; Dylan B. Millet; Meredith J. T. Jordan; David L. Osborn; Scott H. Kable

doi:10.1038/s41467-018-04824-2

Nature Communications (Jul 2018)

Photo-tautomerization of acetaldehyde as a photochemical source of formic acid in the troposphere

Miranda F. Shaw,
Bálint Sztáray,
Lisa K. Whalley,
Dwayne E. Heard,
Dylan B. Millet,
Meredith J. T. Jordan,
David L. Osborn,
Scott H. Kable

Affiliations

Miranda F. Shaw: School of Chemistry, University of Sydney
Bálint Sztáray: Department of Chemistry, University of the Pacific
Lisa K. Whalley: School of Chemistry and National Centre for Atmospheric Science, University of Leeds
Dwayne E. Heard: School of Chemistry and National Centre for Atmospheric Science, University of Leeds
Dylan B. Millet: Department of Soil, Water, and Climate, University of Minnesota
Meredith J. T. Jordan: School of Chemistry, University of Sydney
David L. Osborn: Combustion Research Facility, Sandia National Laboratories
Scott H. Kable: School of Chemistry, University of New South Wales

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04824-2
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 9, no. 1
pp. 1 – 7

Abstract

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The concentration of formic acid in Earth’s atmosphere is under-predicted by atmospheric models. Here the authors show that acetaldehyde photo-tautomerizes to vinyl alcohol under tropospheric conditions, with subsequent oxidation via OH radicals supplying up to 60% of total modeled formic acid production over oceans.

Published in Nature Communications

ISSN: 2041-1723 (Online)
Publisher: Nature Portfolio
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Science
Website: https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

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