Atmospheric photooxidation of isoprene part II: The ozone‐isoprene reaction

Abstract

Abstract A series of experiments have been performed to study the ozone‐isoprene reaction in a smog chamber by adding externally produced O 3 to the hydrocarbon in the dark. A chemical tracer, methyl cyclohexane, was added to probe the OH formation in the system. O( 3 P) formation was also examined using the known distribution of products that are unique to the O( 3 P)‐isoprene reaction (part I). The results provide clear evidence that both OH and O( 3 P) are produced by the O 3 ‐isoprene reaction directly in large quantities; about 0.68 ± 0.15 and 0.45 ± 0.20 per O 3 ‐isoprene reaction, respectively. These additional radicals severely complicate the analysis of the O 3 reaction, hence, computer kinetic modeling was necessary to ascertain the products of the O 3 reaction itself, corrected for OH and O( 3 P) reactions. The product distribution, which differs dramatically from that published previously, is: 67 ± 9% methacrolein, 26 ± 6% methyl vinyl ketone, and 7 ± 3% propene, accounting for 100 ± 10% of the reacted isoprene. Applicability of these results to the gas‐phase O 3 reaction with other unsaturated hydrocarbons is briefly discussed.