Important Reaction Responsible for the creation of the “Atmosphere’s Detergent” Observed in Lab for the First Time.

As we know, our atmosphere is composed by what an article in Science Daily

calls “a complicated dance of molecules.” Understanding how these molecules

interact is important for to predicting the impact of environmental change.

 ­­­­­

A research team from the University of Pennsylvania has recently been able to observe one of the rapid interactions that occur in the atmosphere that lead to the formation of hydroxyl groups. Hydroxyl groups-- important organic functional groups - are also known as the “atmosphere’s detergent”--as I recently learned.  They are very active and steal hydrogen atoms from greenhouse gases (one of these methane) to form water. In this way, hydroxyl groups help break down many atmospheric

pollutants.  

Many researchers had postulated the question of “since they are so reactive how come there are so many of these hydroxyl radicals formed in that atmosphere? “  According to the article, it was previously known that sunlight is responsible for the production of hydroxyl radicals during the day, but the question was still left, as to how these were produced during the night?   A German chemist had proposed that alkenes were broken down in the ozone layer by intermediate reactions that were more short-lived than the hydroxyl radicals themselves. These were named”Criegee intermediates” after the scientist who proposed them. These intermediate reactions had not been detected until the work of the research team at Penn University.

The team used infrared action spectroscopy to generate the intermediate molecule based on the wavelength it absorbs and detected the hydroxyl radicals in the end. They believe this intermediate molecule they have detected is the simplest of its kind and will have implications in the creation of hydroxyl radicals by other pathways. According to the scientific team their findings will help develop a more accurate model of the atmosphere and aid in the development of models to predict how environmental changes will affect the atmosphere.

Reference:

University of Pennsylvania. "Key reaction for producing 'atmosphere's detergent' observed." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 26 September 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140926141008.htm>.