Structures, Hydration, and Electrical Mobilities of Bisulfate Ion–Sulfuric Acid–Ammonia/Dimethylamine Clusters: A Computational Study

Redox-Responsive Halogen Bonding as a Highly Selective Interaction for Electrochemical Separations

Leveraging specific noncovalent interactions can broaden the mechanims for selective electrochemical separations beyond solely electrostatic interactions. Here, we explore redox-responsive halogen bonding (XB) for selective electrosorption in nonaqueous media, by taking advantage of directional interactions of XB alongisde a cooperative and synergistic ferrocene redox-center. We designed and evaluated a new redox-active XB donor polymer, poly(5-iodo-4-ferrocenyl-1-(4-vinylbenzyl)-1H-1,2,3-triazole) (P(FcTS-I)), for the electrochemically switchable binding and release of target organic and inorganic ions at a heterogeneous interface. Under applied potential, the oxidized ferrocene amplifies the halogen binding site, leading to significantly enhanced uptake and selectivity towards key inorganic and organic species, including chloride, bisulfate, and benzenesulfonate, compared to the open-circuit potential or the hydrogen bonding donor analog. Density functional theory calculations, as well as spectroscopic analysis, offer mechanistic insight into the degree of amplification of σ-holes at a molecular level, with selectivity modulated by charge transfer and dispersion interactions. Our work highlights the potential of XB in selective electrosorption by uniquely leveraging noncovalent interactions for redox-mediated electrochemical separations.

Roles of Amides on the Formation of Atmospheric HONO and the Nucleation of Nitric Acid Hydrates

Nitrous acid (HONO) is hazardous to the human respiratory system, and the hydrolysis of NO₂ is the source of HONO. Hence, the investigation on the removal and transformation of HONO is urgently established. The effects of amide on the mechanism and kinetics of the formation of HONO with acetamide, formamide, methylformamide, urea, and its clusters of the catalyst were studied theoretically. The results show that amide and its small clusters reduce the energy barrier, the substituent improves the catalytic efficiency, and the catalytic effect order is dimer > monohydrate > monomer. Meanwhile, the clusters composed of nitric acid (HNO₃), amides, and 1-6 water molecules were investigated in the amide-assisted nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) hydrolysis reaction after HONO decomposes by combining the system sampling technique and density functional theory. The study on thermodynamics, intermolecular forces, optics properties of the clusters, as well as the influence of humidity, temperature, atmospheric pressure, and altitude shows that amide molecules promote the clustering and enhance the optical properties. The substituent facilitates the clustering of amide and nitric acid hydrate and lowers the humidity sensitivity of the clusters. The findings will help to control the atmospheric aerosol particle and then reduce the harm of poisonous organic chemicals on human health.

The role of hydration in atmospheric salt particle formation

New-particle formation from condensable acid and base molecules is a ubiquitous phenomenon in the atmosphere. The role of water in salt particle formation is not fully understood as it can stabilize or destabilize cluster structures, which leads to non-linear effects on cluster formation dynamics. In the studied systems, increased relative humidity can enhance the particle formation for up to four orders of magnitude in the case of nitric acid, but it can also slightly reduce the particle formation in the cases of sulfuric acid and methanesulfonic acid. As the effect of relative humidity in salt particle formation varies many orders of magnitude depending on the acid and base molecules, neglecting hydration or using the same value for different systems may introduce remarkable inaccuracies in large-scale models.

Molecular properties affecting the hydration of acid-base clusters

In the atmosphere, water in all phases is ubiquitous and plays important roles in catalyzing atmospheric chemical reactions, participating in cluster formation and affecting the composition of aerosol particles. Direct measurements of water-containing clusters are limited because water is likely to evaporate before detection, and therefore, theoretical tools are needed to study hydration in the atmosphere. We have studied thermodynamics and population dynamics of the hydration of different atmospherically relevant base monomers as well as sulfuric acid-base pairs. The hydration ability of a base seems to follow in the order of gas-phase base strength whereas hydration ability of acid-base pairs, and thus clusters, is related to the number of hydrogen binding sites. Proton transfer reactions at water-air interfaces are important in many environmental and biological systems, but a deeper understanding of their mechanisms remain elusive. By studying thermodynamics of proton transfer reactions in clusters containing up to 20 water molecules and a base molecule, we found that that the ability of a base to accept a proton in a water cluster is related to the aqueous-phase basicity. We also studied the second deprotonation reaction of a sulfuric acid in hydrated acid-base clusters and found that sulfate formation is most favorable in the presence of dimethylamine. Molecular properties related to the proton transfer ability in water clusters are discussed.

Hydration motifs of ammonium bisulfate clusters show complex temperature dependence

The role of water in the formation of particles from atmospheric trace gases is not well understood, in large part due to difficulties in detecting its presence under atmospheric conditions and the variety of possible structures that must be screened computationally. Here, we use infrared spectroscopy and variable-temperature ion trap mass spectrometry to investigate the structural motifs adopted by water bound to ammonium bisulfate clusters and their temperature dependence. For clusters featuring only acid-base linkages, water adopts a bridging arrangement spanning an adjacent ammonium and bisulfate. For larger clusters, water can also insert into a bisulfate-bisulfate hydrogen bond, yielding hydration isomers with very similar binding energies. The population of these isomers shows a complex temperature evolution, as an apparent third isomer appears with a temperature dependence that is difficult to explain using simple thermodynamic arguments. These observations suggest that the thermodynamics of water binding to atmospheric clusters such as these may not be straightforward.

Seed-Adsorbate Interactions as the Key of Heterogeneous Butanol and Diethylene Glycol Nucleation on Ammonium Bisulfate and Tetramethylammonium Bromide

Condensation particle counter (CPC) instruments are commonly used to detect atmospheric nanoparticles. They operate on the basis of condensing an organic working fluid on the nanoparticle seeds to grow the particles to a detectable size, and at the size of few nanometers, their efficiency depends on how well the working fluid interacts with the seeds under the measurement conditions. This study models the first steps of heterogeneous nucleation of two working fluids commonly used in CPCs (diethylene glycol (DEG) and n-butanol) onto two positively charged seeds, ammonium bisulfate and tetramethylammonium bromide. The nucleation process is modeled on a molecular level using a combination of systematic configurational sampling and density functional theory (DFT). We take into account the conformational flexibility of DEG and n-butanol and determine the key factors that can improve the efficiency of nanoparticle measurements by CPCs. The results show that hydrogen bonding between the seed and the working fluid molecules is central to the adsorption of the first DEG/n-butanol molecules onto the seeds. However, intermolecular hydrogen bonding between the adsorbed molecules can also enhance the nucleation process for the weakly adsorbing vapor molecules. Accordingly, the heterogeneous nucleation probability is higher for working fluid-nanoparticle combinations with a higher potential for hydrogen bonding; in this case, DEG and ammonium bisulfate. Moreover, conformational analysis and methodology evaluations indicate that the consideration of adsorbate conformers and step-wise addition of the vapor molecules to the seeds is not essential for qualitative modeling of heterogeneous nucleation systems, at least for systems where the adsorbate and seed chemical properties are clearly different. This is the first molecular-level modeling study reporting detailed chemical reasons for experimentally observed seed and working fluid preferences in CPCs and reproducing the experimental observations. Our presented approach can be likely used for predicting preferences in similar nucleating systems.

Establishing the structural motifs present in small ammonium and aminium bisulfate clusters of relevance to atmospheric new particle formation

Atmospheric new particle formation is the process by which atmospheric trace gases, typically acids and bases, cluster and grow into potentially climatically relevant particles. Here, we evaluate the structures and structural motifs present in small cationic ammonium and aminium bisulfate clusters that have been studied both experimentally and computationally as seeds for new particles. For several previously studied clusters, multiple different minimum-energy structures have been predicted. Vibrational spectra of mass-selected clusters and quantum chemical calculations allow us to assign the minimum-energy structure for the smallest cationic cluster of two ammonium ions and one bisulfate ion to a C_S-symmetry structure that is persistent under amine substitution. We derive phenomenological vibrational frequency scaling factors for key bisulfate vibrations to aid in the comparison of experimental and computed spectra of larger clusters. Finally, we identify a previously unassigned spectral marker for intermolecular bisulfate-bisulfate hydrogen bonds and show that it is present in a class of structures that are all lower in energy than any previously reported structure. Tracking this marker suggests that this motif is prominent in larger clusters as well as ∼180 nm ammonium bisulfate particles. Taken together, these results establish a set of structural motifs responsible for binding of gases at the surface of growing clusters that fully explain the spectrum of large particles and provide benchmarks for efforts to improve structure predictions, which are critical for the accurate theoretical treatment of this process.

Electrospray Ionization-Based Synthesis and Validation of Amine-Sulfuric Acid Clusters of Relevance to Atmospheric New Particle Formation

Atmospheric new particle formation (NPF) is the process by which atmospheric trace gases such as sulfuric acid, ammonia, and amines cluster and grow into climatically relevant particles. The mechanism by which these particles form and grow has remained unclear, in large part due to difficulties in obtaining molecular-level information about the clusters as they grow. Mass spectrometry-based methods using electrospray ionization (ESI) as a cluster source have shed light on this process, but the produced cluster distributions have not been rigorously validated against experiments performed in atmospheric conditions. Ionic clusters are produced by ESI of solutions containing the amine and bisulfate or by spraying a sulfuric acid solution and introducing trace amounts of amine gas into the ESI environment. The amine content of clusters can be altered by increasing the amount of amine introduced into the ESI environment, and certain cluster compositions can only be made by the vapor exchange method. Both approaches are found to yield clusters with the same structures. Aminium bisulfate cluster distributions produced in a controlled and isolated ESI environment can be optimized to closely resemble those observed by chemical ionization in the CLOUD chamber at CERN. These studies indicate that clusters generated by ESI are also observed in traditional atmospheric measurements, which puts ESI mass spectrometry-based studies on firmer footing and broadens the scope of traditional mass spectrometry experiments that may be applied to NPF.

Hydration motifs of ammonium bisulfate clusters of relevance to atmospheric new particle formation

We have analyzed the binding motifs of water bound to a prototypical cluster containing three ammonium cations and two bisulfate anions using mass-selective vibrational spectroscopy and quantum chemical calculations.

Direct Link between Structure and Hydration in Ammonium and Aminium Bisulfate Clusters Implicated in Atmospheric New Particle Formation

The acid-base chemistry of amines and sulfuric acid promotes growth in the early stages of atmospheric new particle formation, with more basic amines enhancing growth rates. Hydration of these particles has been proposed to depend on acidity or basicity but is difficult to quantify; therefore, the role of water in this process is not well understood. Using tandem mass spectrometry coupled to a temperature-controlled ion trap, we show that water uptake by aminium bisulfate clusters depends on the total number of free hydrogen bond donors in the cluster and is unaffected by the interchange of amines featuring the same number of substituents but differing gas-phase basicity. Analyzing this trend reveals site-specific propensities for hydration. These results indicate that hydration is determined by structural factors and that reported dependences on acidity or basicity arise from the weaker correlation between the number of hydrogen bond donors of amines and their gas-phase basicity.

Uptake of water by an acid–base nanoparticle: theoretical and experimental studies of the methanesulfonic acid–methylamine system

Uptake of water by nanoparticles composed by methanesulfonic acid and methylamine using a combination of theoretical calculations and laboratory experiments.

Hydration of the methanesulfonate–ammonia/amine complex and its atmospheric implications

Methanesulfonate (MSA⁻), found in substantial concentrations in the atmosphere, is expected to enhance aerosol nucleation and the growth of nanoparticles, but the details of methanesulfonate clusters are poorly understood. In this study, MSA⁻ was chosen along with ammonia (NH₃) or three common amines and water (H₂O) to discuss the roles of ternary homogeneous nucleation and ion-induced nucleation in aerosol formation. We studied the structural characteristics and thermodynamics of the clusters using density functional theory at the PW91PW91/6-311++G(3df,3pd) level. The analysis of noncovalent interactions predicts that the amines can form more stable clusters with MSA⁻ than NH₃, in agreement with the results from structures and thermodynamics; however, the enhancement in stability for amines is not large enough to overcome the difference in the concentrations of NH₃ and amines under typical atmospheric conditions. In addition, the favorable free energies of formation for the (MSA⁻)(NH₃/amines)(H₂O)_n (n = 0–3) clusters at 298.15 K show that MSA⁻ could contribute to the aerosol nucleation process with binding NH₃/amines and H₂O up to n = 3. There are strong temperature and humidity dependences for the formation of complexes; higher humidity and temperature promote the formation of larger hydrates. Finally, for the (MSA⁻)(NH₃/amines)(H₂O)_n clusters, the evaporation rates were determined to further investigate the atmospheric implications.

Methanesulfonate (MSA⁻), found in substantial concentrations in the atmosphere, is expected to enhance aerosol nucleation and the growth of nanoparticles, but the details of methanesulfonate clusters are poorly understood.

Solvation energies of the proton in methanol revisited and temperature effects

Various functionals assessing solvation free energies and enthalpies of the proton in methanol.

CJ. Ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry examination of the structures, stabilities, and extents of hydration of dimethylamine–sulfuric acid clusters

Uptake of water molecules by dimethylamine–sulfuric acid cluster ions mitigates dissociation in atmospheric pressure ion source mass spectrometer inlets.