Integrated experimental and theoretical approach to probe the synergistic effect of ammonia in methanesulfonic acid reactions with small alkylamines

The role of aldehydes on sulfur based-new particle formation: a theoretical study

Aldehydes play a crucial role in the formation of atmospheric particles, attracting significant attention due to their environmental impact. However, the microscopic mechanisms underlying the formation of aldehyde-involved particles remain uncertain. In this study, through quantum chemical calculations and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, we investigate the microscopic formation mechanisms of binary and ternary systems composed of three representative aldehydes, two sulfur-based acids, water, and two bases. Our research findings reveal that the most stable structures of acid-aldehyde clusters involve the connection of acids and aldehyde compounds through hydrogen bonds without involving proton transfer reactions, indicating relatively poor cluster stability. However, with the introduction of a third component, the stability of 18 clusters significantly increase. Among these, in ten systems, acids act as catalysts, facilitating reactions between aldehyde compounds and water or alkaline substances to generate glycols and amino alcohols. However, according to MD simulations conducted at 300 K, these acids readily dissociate from the resulting products. In the remaining eight systems, the most stable structural feature involves ion pairs formed by proton transfer reactions between acids and aldehyde compounds. These clusters exhibit remarkable thermodynamic stability. Furthermore, the acidity of the acid, the nature of nucleophilic agents, and the type of aldehyde all play significant roles in cluster stability and reactivity, and they have synergistic effects on the nucleation process. This study offers microscopic insights into the processes of new particle formation involving aldehydes, contributing to a deeper understanding of atmospheric chemistry at the molecular level.

Distinct Temperature Trends in the Uptake of Gaseous n-Butylamine on Two Solid Diacids

Uptake coefficients of n-butylamine (BA) on solid succinic (SA) and glutaric acids (GA) from 298 to 177 K were measured using a newly combined Knudsen cell temperature-programmed desorption apparatus. The uptake coefficients on SA increase monotonically from (1.9 ± 0.5) × 10-4 at 298 K to 0.14 ± 0.05 at 177 K (errors represent 2σ statistical errors, overall errors are estimated to be ±60%). This is consistent with a surface reaction mechanism to form solid aminium carboxylate. In contrast, the uptake coefficients on GA increase from 0.11 ± 0.04 at 298 K to 0.25 ± 0.04 at 248 K but then decrease to 0.030 ± 0.010 at 177 K. This unusual trend in temperature dependence of the uptake coefficient is due to formation of an ionic liquid (IL) layer upon the surface reaction of BA with GA, leading to a competition between the rate of desorption of BA and the rates of diffusion and reaction within the IL. Overall, the kinetic multi-layer model of aerosol surface and bulk chemistry (KM-SUB) satisfactorily reproduces these unique trends. This work provides mechanistic insight and predictive capability for the temperature-dependence of reactive uptake processes involving multiple phase changes upon surface reaction.

Microwave and Computational Study of Methanesulfonic Acid and Its Complex with Water

Spectra of methanesulfonic acid (CH₃SO₃H, MSA) and its complex with water have been studied by microwave spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations. For the monomer, spectra were obtained for both the parent and -OD isotopologues and, in each case, revealed a pair of tunneling states that are attributed to large amplitude motion of the hydroxyl hydrogen about the S-O(H) bond. Transitions crossing between tunneling states were not found in the parent spectrum and are estimated to be outside the range of the spectrometer, thus precluding the direct determination of the tunneling energy. For the -OD form, however, the tunneling energy was determined to be ΔE = 6471.9274(18) MHz from direct measurement of the cross-state c-type transitions. In its complex with water, the acidic hydrogen of the MSA forms a hydrogen bond with the water oxygen. A secondary hydrogen bond involving the water hydrogen and an SO₃ oxygen completes a six-membered ring, forming a cyclic structure typical of hydrated oxyacids. No evidence of internal motion was observed. Rotational spectra of the CH₃SO₃H···D₂O and CH₃SO₃D···D₂O isotopologues were also obtained and analyzed. Comparison with theoretical calculations confirms the cyclic structure, though the orientation of the unbound water hydrogen is ambiguous.

Clusteromics V: Organic Enhanced Atmospheric Cluster Formation

Formic acid (FA) is a prominent candidate for organic enhanced nucleation due to its high abundance and stabilizing effect on smaller clusters. Its role in new particle formation is studied through the use of state-of-the-art quantum chemical methods on the cluster systems (acid)_1-2(FA)₁(base)_1-2 with the acids being sulfuric acid (SA)/methanesulfonic acid (MSA) and the bases consisting of ammonia (A), methylamine (MA), dimethylamine (DMA), trimethylamine (TMA), and ethylenediamine (EDA). A funneling approach is used to determine the cluster structures with initial configurations generated through the ABCluster program, followed by semiempirical PM7 and ωB97X-D/6-31++G(d,p) calculations. The final binding free energy is calculated at the DLPNO-CCSD(T₀)/aug-cc-pVTZ//ωB97X-D/6-31++G(d,p) level of theory using the quasi-harmonic approximation. Cluster dynamics simulations show that FA has a minuscule or negligible effect on the MSA-FA-base systems as well as most of the SA-FA-base systems. The SA-FA-DMA cluster system shows the highest influence from FA with an enhancement of 21%, compared to its non-FA counterpart.

Clusteromics IV: The Role of Nitric Acid in Atmospheric Cluster Formation

Nitric acid (NA) has previously been shown to affect atmospheric new particle formation; however, its role still remains highly uncertain. Through the employment of state-of-the-art quantum chemical methods, we study the (acid)_1-2(base)_1-2 and (acid)₃(base)₂ clusters containing at least one nitric acid (NA) and sulfuric acid (SA) or methanesulfonic acid (MSA) with bases ammonia (A), methylamine (MA), dimethylamine (DMA), trimethylamine (TMA), and ethylenediamine (EDA). The initial cluster configurations are generated using the ABCluster program. PM7 and ωB97X-D/6-31++G(d,p) calculations are used to reduce the number of relevant configurations. The thermochemical parameters are calculated at the ωB97X-D/6-31++G(d,p) level of theory with the quasi-harmonic approximation, and the final single-point energies are calculated with high-level DLPNO-CCSD(T₀)/aug-cc-pVTZ calculations. The enhancing effect from the presence of nitric acid on cluster formation is studied using the calculated thermochemical data and cluster dynamics simulations. We find that when NA is in excess compared with the other acids, it has a substantial enhancing effect on the cluster formation potential.

Amine-Enhanced Methanesulfonic Acid-Driven Nucleation: Predictive Model and Cluster Formation Mechanism

Atmospheric amines are considered to be an effective enhancer for methanesulfonic acid (MSA)-driven nucleation. However, out of the 195 detected atmospheric amines, the enhancing potential (EP) has so far only been studied for five amines. This severely hinders the understanding of the contribution of amines to MSA-driven nucleation. Herein, a two-step procedure was employed to probe the EP of various amines on MSA-driven nucleation. Initially, the formation free energies (ΔG) of 50 MSA-amine dimer clusters were calculated. Based on the calculated ΔG values, a robust quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) model was built and utilized to predict the ΔG values of the remaining 145 amines. The QSAR model identified two guanidino-containing compounds as the potentially strongest enhancer for MSA-driven nucleation. Second, the EP of guanidino-containing compounds was studied by employing larger clusters and selecting guanidine (Gud) as a representative. The results indicate that Gud indeed has the strongest EP. The Gud-MSA system presents a unique clustering mechanism, proceeding via the initial formation of the (Gud)₁(MSA)₁ cluster, and subsequently by cluster collisions with either a (Gud)₁(MSA)₁ or (Gud)₂(MSA)₂ cluster. The developed QSAR model and the identification of amines with the strongest EP provide a foundation for comprehensively evaluating the contribution of atmospheric amines to MSA-driven nucleation.

Clusteromics III: Acid Synergy in Sulfuric Acid-Methanesulfonic Acid-Base Cluster Formation

Acid-base molecular clusters are an important stage in atmospheric new particle formation. While such clusters are most likely multicomponent in nature, there are very few reports on clusters consisting of multiple acid molecules and multiple base molecules. By applying state-of-the-art quantum chemical methods, we herein study electrically neutral (SA)₁(MSA)₁(base)_0-2 clusters with base = ammonia (A), methylamine (MA), dimethylamine (DMA), trimethylamine (TMA) and ethylenediamine (EDA). The cluster structures are obtained using a funneling approach employing the ABCluster program, semiempirical PM7 calculations and ωB97X-D/6-31++G(d,p) calculations. The final binding free energies are calculated at the DLPNO-CCSD(T₀)/aug-cc-pVTZ//ωB97X-D/6-31++G(d,p) level of theory using the quasi-harmonic approximation. Based on the calculated cluster geometries and thermochemistry (at 298.15 K and 1 atm), we find that the mixed (SA)₁(MSA)₁(base)_1-2 clusters more resemble the (SA)₂(base)_1-2 clusters compared to the (MSA)₂(base)_1-2 clusters. Hence, some of the steric hindrance and lack of hydrogen bond capacity previously observed in the (MSA)₂(base)_1-2 clusters is diminished in the corresponding (SA)₁(MSA)₁(base)_1-2 clusters. Cluster kinetics simulations reveal that the presence of an MSA molecule in the clusters enhances the cluster formation potential by up to a factor of 20. We find that the SA-MSA-DMA clusters have the highest cluster formation potential, and thus, this system should be further extended to larger sizes in future studies.

Microscopic Insights Into the Formation of Methanesulfonic Acid–Methylamine–Ammonia Particles Under Acid-Rich Conditions

Understanding the microscopic mechanisms of new particle formation under acid-rich conditions is of significance in atmospheric science. Using quantum chemistry calculations, we investigated the microscopic formation mechanism of methanesulfonic acid (MSA)–methylamine (MA)–ammonia (NH3) clusters. We focused on the binary (MSA)2n-(MA)n and ternary (MSA)3n-(MA)n-(NH3)n, (n = 1–4) systems which contain more acid than base molecules. We found that the lowest-energy isomers in each system possess considerable thermodynamic and dynamic stabilities. In studied cluster structures, all bases are protonated, and they form stable ion pairs with MSA, which contribute to the charge transfer and the stability of clusters. MA and NH3 have a synergistic effect on NPF under acid-rich conditions, and the role of NH3 becomes more remarkable as cluster size increases. The excess of MSA molecules does not only enhance the stability of clusters, but provides potential sites for further growth.

Clusteromics II: Methanesulfonic Acid-Base Cluster Formation

The role of methanesulfonic acid (MSA) in atmospheric new particle formation remains highly uncertain. Using state-of-the-art computational methods, we study the electrically neutral (MSA)0-2(base)0-2 clusters, with base = ammonia (A), methylamine (MA), dimethylamine (DMA), trimethylamine (TMA), and ethylenediamine (EDA). The cluster configurations are obtained using the ABCluster program and the number of initial cluster configurations is reduced based on PM7 calculations. Thermochemical parameters are calculated using the quasi-harmonic approximation based on the ωB97X-D/6-31++G(d,p) cluster structures and vibrational frequencies. The single point energies are calculated at the DLPNO-CCSD(T0)/aug-cc-pVTZ level of theory. We find that MSA shows a different interaction pattern with the bases compared to sulfuric acid and does not simply follow the basicity of the bases for these small clusters. In all cases, we find that the MSA-base clusters show very low cluster formation potential, indicating that electrically neutral clusters consisting solely of MSA as the clustering acid are most likely not capable of forming and growing under realistic atmospheric conditions.

New Particle Formation and Growth from Dimethyl Sulfide Oxidation by Hydroxyl Radicals

Dimethyl sulfide (DMS) is produced by plankton in oceans and constitutes the largest natural emission of sulfur to the atmosphere. In this work, we examine new particle formation from the primary pathway of oxidation of gas-phase DMS by OH radicals. We particularly focus on particle growth and mass yield as studied experimentally under dry conditions using the atmospheric simulation chamber AURA. Experimentally, we show that aerosol mass yields from oxidation of 50-200 ppb of DMS are low (2-7%) and that particle growth rates (8.2-24.4 nm/h) are comparable with ambient observations. An HR-ToF-AMS was calibrated using methanesulfonic acid (MSA) to account for fragments distributed across both the organic and sulfate fragmentation table. AMS-derived chemical compositions revealed that MSA was always more dominant than sulfate in the secondary aerosols formed. Modeling using the Aerosol Dynamics, gas- and particle-phase chemistry kinetic multilayer model for laboratory CHAMber studies (ADCHAM) indicates that the Master Chemical Mechanism gas-phase chemistry alone underestimates experimentally observed particle formation and that DMS multiphase and autoxidation chemistry is needed to explain observations. Based on quantum chemical calculations, we conclude that particle formation from DMS oxidation in the ambient atmosphere will most likely be driven by mixed sulfuric acid/MSA clusters clustering with both amines and ammonia.

Clusteromics I: Principles, Protocols, and Applications to Sulfuric Acid-Base Cluster Formation

We recently coined the term clusteromics as a holistic approach for obtaining insight into the chemical complexity of atmospheric molecular cluster formation and at the same time providing the foundation for thermochemical databases that can be utilized for developing machine learning models. Here, we present the first paper in the series that applies state-of-the-art computational methods to study multicomponent (SA)0-2(base)0-2 clusters, with SA = sulfuric acid and base = [ammonia (A), methylamine (MA), dimethylamine (DMA), trimethylamine (TMA), and ethylenediamine (EDA)] with all combinations of the five bases. The initial cluster configurations are obtained using the ABCluster program and the number of relevant configurations are reduced based on PM7 and ωB97X-D/6-31++G(d,p) calculations. Thermochemical parameters are calculated based on the ωB97X-D/6-31++G(d,p) cluster structures and vibrational frequencies using the quasi-harmonic approximation. The single-point energies are refined with a high-level DLPNO-CCSD(T0)/aug-cc-pVTZ calculation. Using the calculated thermochemical data, we perform kinetics simulations to evaluate the potential of these small (SA)0-2(base)0-2 clusters to grow into larger cluster sizes. In all cases we find that having more than one type of base molecule present in the cluster will increase the potential for forming larger clusters primarily due to the increased available vapor concentration.

Toward a Holistic Understanding of the Formation and Growth of Atmospheric Molecular Clusters: A Quantum Machine Learning Perspective

The formation of atmospheric molecular clusters is an important stage in forming new particles in the atmosphere. Despite being a highly focused research area, the exact chemical species involved in the initial steps in new particle formation remain elusive. In this Perspective the main challenges and recent progression in the field are outlined with a special emphasis on the chemical complexity of the puzzle and prospect of modeling larger clusters. In general, there is a high demand for accurate and more complete quantum chemical data sets that can be applied in cluster distribution dynamics models and coupled to atmospheric chemical transport models. A view on how the community could reach this goal by applying data-driven machine learning approaches for more efficient exploration of cluster configurations is presented. A path toward larger clusters and direct molecular dynamics simulations of cluster formation and growth using machine learning models is discussed.

Structural Effects of Amines in Enhancing Methanesulfonic Acid-Driven New Particle Formation

Atmospheric amines can enhance methanesulfonic acid (MSA)-driven new particle formation (NPF), but the mechanism is fundamentally different compared to that of the extensively studied sulfuric acid (SA)-driven process. Generally, the enhancing potentials of amines in SA-driven NPF follow the basicity, while this is not the case for MSA-driven NPF, where structural effects dominate, making MSA-driven NPF more prominent for methylamine (MA) compared to dimethylamine (DMA). Therefore, probing structural factors determining the enhancing potentials of amines on MSA-driven NPF is key to fully understanding the contribution of MSA to NPF. Here, we performed a comparative study on DMA and MA enhancing MSA-driven NPF by examining cluster formation using computational methods. The results indicate that DMA-MSA clusters are more stable than the corresponding MA-MSA clusters for cluster sizes up to (DMA)₂(MSA)₂, indicating that the basicity of amines dominates the initial cluster formation. The methyl groups of DMA were found to present significant steric hindrance beyond the (DMA)₂(MSA)₂ cluster and this adds to the lower hydrogen bonding capacity of DMA, making the cluster growth less favorable compared to MA. This study implies that several amines could synergistically enhance MSA-driven NPF by maximizing the advantage of different amines in different amine-MSA cluster growth stages.