Atmospheric Oxidation of Toluene in a Large-Volume Outdoor Photoreactor:  In Situ Determination of Ring-Retaining Product Yields

Experiments on the photooxidation of toluene/NOx/air mixtures were performed in the European Photoreactor (EUPHORE), a large-scale outdoor reaction chamber located in Valencia/Spain. The objective of the study was the in situ determination of the yields of ring-retaining products by differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) and the elucidation of their formation pathways. The experiments were performed with toluene concentrations between 0.68 and 3.85 ppm and initial NOx concentrations ranging from 3 to 300 ppb, i.e., down to the range actually observed in the lower atmosphere. The ring-retaining product yields were found to be 5.8 ± 0.8%, 12.0 ± 1.4%, 2.7 ± 0.7%, and 3.2 ± 0.6% for benzaldehyde, o-cresol, m-cresol, and p-cresol, respectively. Under the experimental conditions, no dependency of the yields on the NOx concentration or the toluene/NOx ratio could be found. The formation kinetics of the cresols are in line with a “prompt” formation mechanism, i.e., abstraction of a hydrogen atom from the toluene−OH adduct (toluene−OH + O2 → cresols + HO2). In addition, substantial evidence was found that reaction with NO3 radicals represents an important sink for cresols in smog chamber studies conducted under conditions of NOx concentrations above the range observed in the troposphere, possibly also under tropospheric conditions.