Nitrogen dioxide reactions atmosphere

Nitrogen dioxide in the atmosphere undergoes the same reaction and contributes to the formation of acid rain. It also initiates a complex sequence of smog-forming photochemical reactions. 

Reaction of benzanthrone with nitrogen dioxide alone or in admixture with ozone gives a mixture of nitrated products including 3-nitrobenzanthrone, which is a new class of powerful direct-acting mutagens of atmospheric origin (Eq. 2.12).26... 

The photochemical oxidants that are observed in the atmosphere are ozone, Oj, nitrogen dioxide, NOj and peroxyacetylnitrate (PAN). Several other substances, such as hydrogen peroxide, HjO, may be classified as photochemical oxidants, but their common presence in smog is not well established. The oxidants are secondary pollutants i.e., they are formed as a result of chemical reactions in the atmosphere. Primary pollutants are those emitted directly by pollution sources. 

Reactions 2-1 through 2-3 show the most common chemical reactions that occur in the polluted atmosphere. The reason is that nitrogen dioxide is the strongest absorber of sunlight. At a latitude of 40 the typical turnover lifetime for nitrogen dioxide is about 1.4 min. This means that, every 1.4 min on the average, half the nitn en dioxide molecules are photodissociated (Reaction 2-1) and reformed (Reaction 2-3). No other molecule in smog is so active. 

There were two important innovations in the development of these oxidative cycles the use of carbon monoxide which had previously been considered a relatively inert molecule in the atmosphere to regenerate the hydroperoxy radical via Reactions 2-6 and 2-7 and the use of peroxy radicals HO, and RO, to oxidize nitric oxide to nitrogen dioxide. 

Similarly, recent experiments" have been interpreted to mean that about 10% of the reaction of hydroperoxy radical with nitric oxide gives per-nitrous add, HOONO, instead of nitrogen dioxide and hydroxyl radical. Because this reaction is of major importance, even 10% of a second channel would be important, although it has been argued that such compounds would not be sufFidently stable to accumulate in the atmosphere." Whether such peroxynitrogen compounds are stable in the gas phase and whether they can be found in the atmosphere must await further experiments. 

Chemical radicals—such as hydroxyl, peroxyhydroxyl, and various alkyl and aryl species—have either been observed in laboratory studies or have been postulated as photochemical reaction intermediates. Atmospheric photochemical reactions also result in the formation of finely divided suspended particles (secondary aerosols), which create atmospheric haze. Their chemical content is enriched with sulfates (from sulfur dioxide), nitrates (from nitrogen dioxide, nitric oxide, and peroxyacylnitrates), ammonium (from ammonia), chloride (from sea salt), water, and oxygenated, sulfiirated, and nitrated organic compounds (from chemical combination of ozone and oxygen with hydrocarbon, sulfur oxide, and nitrogen oxide fragments). ... 

The technol( for the routine measurement of the nitrogen oxides (nitrogen dioxide and nitric oxide) is fairly well advanced. The epa is on the verge of officially proposing that chemiluminescence produced by the reaction of nitric oxide with ozone be the reference method for nitrogen dioxide.This method is even more suitable for nitric oxide. Because no national air quality standard has been promulgated for nitric oxide, no reference method will be specified. However, its measurement in the atmosphere is crucial for establishing the relation of its emission to the formation of atmospheric ozone and other photochemical oxidants. 

The sulfate and nitrate content of atmospheric particles comes primarily from the conversion of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. Photochemi-cally initiated atmospheric reactions and transient free radicals are... 

Intersociety Committee. Tentative method of analysis for nitrogen dioxide content of the atmosphere (Griess-Sahzman Reaction), pp. 329-336. In Methods of Air Sampling and Analysis. Washington, D.C. American Public Health Association. 1972. 

Tuazon et al. (1984a) investigated the atmospheric reactions of TV-nitrosodimethylamine and dimethylnitramine in an environmental chamber utilizing in situ long-path Fourier transform infared spectroscopy. They irradiated an ozone-rich atmosphere containing A-nitrosodimethyl-amine. Photolysis products identified include dimethylnitramine, nitromethane, formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, nitrogen pentoxide, and nitric acid. The rate constants for the reaction of fV-nitrosodimethylamine with OH radicals and ozone relative to methyl ether were 3.0 X 10 and <1 x 10 ° cmVmolecule-sec, respectively. The estimated atmospheric half-life of A-nitrosodimethylamine in the troposphere is approximately 5 min. 

Nitropyrene was the sole product formed from the gas-phase reaction of pyrene with OH radicals in a NOx atmosphere (Arey et al, 1986). Pyrene adsorbed on glass fiber filters reacted rapidly with N2O5 to form 1-nitropyrene. When pyrene was exposed to nitrogen dioxide, no reaction occurred. However, in the presence of nitric acid, nitrated compounds were produced (Yokley et al, 1985). Ozonation of water containing pyrene (10-200 pg/L) yielded short-chain aliphatic compounds as the major products (Corless et al, 1990). A monochlorinated pyrene was the major product formed during the chlorination of pyrene in aqueous solutions. At pH 4, the reported half-lives at chlorine concentrations of 0.6 and 10 mg/L were 8.8 and <0.2 h, respectively (Mori et al, 1991). 

Photolytic. Irradiation of vinyl chloride in the presence of nitrogen dioxide for 160 min produced formic acid, HCl, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, ozone, and trace amounts of formyl chloride and nitric acid. In the presence of ozone, however, vinyl chloride photooxidized to carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, formic acid, and small amounts of HCl (Gay et al, 1976). Reported photooxidation products in the troposphere include hydrogen chloride and/or formyl chloride (U.S. EPA, 1985). In the presence of moisture, formyl chloride will decompose to carbon monoxide and HCl (Morrison and Boyd, 1971). Vinyl chloride reacts rapidly with OH radicals in the atmosphere. Based on a reaction rate of 6.6 x lO" cmVmolecule-sec, the estimated half-life for this reaction at 299 K is 1.5 d (Perry et al., 1977). Vinyl chloride reacts also with ozone and NO3 in the gas-phase. Sanhueza et al. (1976) reported a rate constant of 6.5 x 10 cmVmolecule-sec for the reaction with OH radicals in air at 295 K. Atkinson et al. (1988) reported a rate constant of 4.45 X 10cmVmolecule-sec for the reaction with NO3 radicals in air at 298 K. 

Chemical/Physical. Under atmospheric conditions, the gas-phase reaction with OH radicals and nitrogen oxides resulted in the formation of p-tolualdehyde (Atkinson, 1990). Kanno et al. (1982) studied the aqueous reaction of p-xylene and other aromatic hydrocarbons (benzene, toluene, o-and /n-xylene, and naphthalene) with hypochlorous acid in the presence of ammonium ion. They reported that the aromatic ring was not chlorinated as expected but was cleaved by chloramine forming cyanogen chloride. The amount of cyanogen chloride formed increased at lower pHs (Kanno et al, 1982). Products identified from the OH radical-initiated reaction of p-xylene in the presence of nitrogen dioxide were 3-hexene-2,5-dione, p-tolualdehyde, and 2,5-dimethylphenol (Bethel et al., 2000). 

Smog formation in the atmosphere is caused by such reaction. Nitrogen dioxide is rapidly oxidized by ozone to form nitrogen pentoxide ... 

If the procedure is carried out under an atmosphere of nitrogen, oxidation of nitrogen monoxide to nitrogen dioxide is prevented and the reaction mixture remains colorless, but the yield is not improved. 

Fan, Z., R. M. Kamens, J. Zhang, and J. Hu, Ozone-Nitrogen Dioxide-NPAH Heterogeneous Soot Particle Reactions and Modeling NPAH in the Atmosphere, Environ. Sci. Technol., 30, 2821-2827 (1996a). 

The energy required to break bonds can also come from the absorption of electromagnetic radiation. As the radiation is absorbed by reactant molecules, the atoms in the molecules may start to vibrate so rapidly that the bonds between them are easily broken. In many instances, the direct absorption of electromagnetic radiation is all it takes to break chemical bonds and initiate a chemical reaction. As we discuss in Chapter 17, for example, the common atmospheric pollutant nitrogen dioxide, N02, may transform to nitrogen monoxide and atomic oxygen merely upon exposure to sunlight ... 

The photochemical processes of triatomic molecules have been extensively studied in recent years, particularly those of water, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and sulfur dioxide, as they are important minor constituents of the earth s atmosphere. (Probably more than 200 papers on ozone photolysis alone have been published in the last decade.) Carbon dioxide is the major component of the Mars and Venus atmospheres. The primary photofragments produced and their subsequent reactions are well understood for the above-mentioned six triatomic molecules as the photodissociation involves only two bonds to be ruptured and two fragments formed in various electronic states. The photochemical processes of these six molecules are discussed in detail in the following sections. They illustrate how the knowledge of primary products and their subsequent reactions have aided in interpreting the results obtained by the traditional end product analysis and quantum yield measurements. 

After it escapes into the atmosphere with the other exhaust gases, the nitric oxide reacts with oxygen to produce nitrogen dioxide, one of the precursors of acid rain. Write the two balanced equations for the reactions leading to the formation of nitrogen dioxide. 

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