Overlooked Significance of Reactive Chlorines in the Reacted Loss of VOCs and the Formation of O<sub>3</sub> and SOA
The photochemical loss of VOCs induced by OH radicals has been proven to be important for diagnosing ozone formation chemistry, while chlorine chemistry is becoming increasingly critical in the atmosphere by oxidizing primary pollutants and accelerating the formation of secondary pollutants. However, the role of the consumed VOCs caused by chlorine radicals is not clear. Here, observations combined with model simulations suggest that photochemical depletion of VOCs oxidized by chlorine radicals would not only promote the formation of ozone and oxygenated organic molecules (OOMs) but also help explain the nonlinear chemistry between secondary pollutants (O<sub>3</sub> and OOMs) and precursors (VOCs and NO<sub><i>x</i></sub>). This enhancement of O<sub>3</sub> and OOMs by chlorine radicals is nonlinearly dependent on the ratio of VOCs to NO<sub><i>x</i></sub>, and the connection of O<sub>3</sub> and secondary organic aerosol with VOCs/NO<sub><i>x</i></sub> provides critical insight into the understanding of the oxidation processes of VOCs and intermediates from emission, reaction, and products.
Authors
- Markku Kulmala (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3464-7825)
- Zemin Feng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5964-5159)
- Jinwen Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-0041-7613)
- Douglas R. Worsnop (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8928-8017)
- Hongling Yang
- Zhixin Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4779-1845)
- Feixue Zheng
- Chenjie Hua
- Men Xia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8534-3357)
- Yuan Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5899-0201)
- Yafei Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5332-0348)
- Xin Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1357-3970)
- Yusheng Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-1514-8247)
- Wei Ma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8975-1764)
- Hong He (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8476-8217)
- Yuzheng Wang
- Yongchun Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9055-970X)
Institutions
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- North China University of Science and Technology (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Beijing Normal University (CN)
- State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control (CN)
- Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences (CN)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Beijing University of Chemical Technology (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Environmental Science & Technology
- Published
- 2025-03-19
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c10618
- Citations
- 12
- Primary Topic
- Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 15.61
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
- Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province
- Beijing Municipal Natural Science Foundation