Prediction of the abiotic degradability of organic compounds in the troposphere

✍ Scribed by Hans Güsten; Leo Klasinc; Dubravko Marić

• Book ID: 104632390
• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1984
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 533 KB
• Volume: 2
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0167-7764
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00127264

✦ Synopsis

A statistically relevant correlation between the reaction rate coefficient, koH , for the OH radical reaction with 161 organic compounds in the gas phase at 300 K, and the corresponding vertical ionisation energies Ei, v, reveals two classes of compounds: aromatics where -log(koH/cm3s -1) -~ 3/2 Ei, v(eV) -2 and aliphatics where -log(7;OH/Cm 3 s-l) ~_ 4/5 El, v(eV) + 3. The prediction of the rate coefficient, koH , for the reaction of OH with organic molecules from the above equations has a probability of about 90%. Assuming a global diurnal mean of the OH radical concentration of 5 x l0 s cm s, the upper limit of the tropospheric half-life of organic compounds and their persistence can be estimated.