Autoxidation in the Environment

化学系的环境化学科学项目通过这个奖项资助加州理工学院的Paul Wennberg教授和Brian Stoltz教授研究自氧化在环境过程中的作用。有机化合物的自氧化在燃烧、食品和葡萄酒的变质、烯烃液体的降解以及非常广泛的生物系统中都是重要的。人们正在探索自氧化在有机化合物环境降解中的作用。一个合作的科学家团队正在研究一系列模型化合物的自氧化动力学和机理。其目标是创建一种自氧化模型，用于评估自氧化将环境中的还原碳化合物转化为高含氧物质的速度。更广泛地说，通过这项研究描述的自氧化动力学涉及许多气体和冷凝相应用，这些应用跨越了从改善食品保鲜到减少露天燃烧中气溶胶产生的科学。自氧化在有机化合物环境降解中的作用在很大程度上仍未被探索。通过一个科学家团队的合作，包括计算、有机学家和分析化学家，研究了不同有机底物的这种氧化化学的速率。合成了表征环境中发现的许多还原有机底物的模型化合物，以探索自氧化的物理化学。利用密度泛函计算和实验室观察，正在建立一个自氧化模型，用于评估自氧化将环境中的还原碳化合物转化为高含氧组分的速率。最初的应用包括研究有机气溶胶的形成和老化，以及夜间硝酸根对大气中的烯烃的氧化。如果发现这种氧化化学相当普遍地影响臭氧和气溶胶的负担，这些研究的更广泛的影响可能是深远的。

With this award, the Environmental Chemical Sciences Program of the Division of Chemistry is funding Professors Paul Wennberg and Brian Stoltz of the California Institute of Technology to investigate the role of autooxidation in environmental processes. Autoxidation of organic compounds is known to be important in combustion, food and wine spoilage, degradation of olefinic liquids, and very broadly in biological systems. The role of autoxidation in the environmental degradation of organic compounds is being explored. A collaborative team of scientists is studying the kinetics and mechanism for autooxidation of a series of model compounds. The goal is to create a model of autoxidation for use in evaluating the rate by which autoxidation converts reduced carbon compounds in the environment to highly oxygenated substances. More broadly, the kinetics of autoxidation described through this study address many gas and condensed phase applications that span science from improved food preservation to reduced aerosol production in open-air combustion. The role of autoxidation in the environmental degradation of organic compounds remains largely unexplored. Via a collaboration of a team of scientists, including computational, organic, and analytical chemists, the rate of this oxidative chemistry for a diverse set of organic substrates is investigated. Model compounds that characterize many of the reduced organic substrates found in the environment are synthesized to explore the physical chemistry of autoxidation. Using density functional calculations and laboratory observations, a model of autoxidation for use in evaluating the rate by which autoxidation converts reduced carbon compounds in the environment to highly oxygenated constituents is being created. Initial applications include study of the formation and aging of organic aerosols, and the atmospheric oxidation of alkenes by the nitrate radical during the night. Broader impacts of these studies could be far-reaching should it be found that this oxidative chemistry impacts the burden of ozone and aerosol quite generally.