Heterogeneous chemistry of methyl ethyl ketone on mineral oxide surfaces: impacts of relative humidity and nitrogen dioxide on product formation

Abstract

Despite their atmospheric abundance, heterogeneous and multiphase reactions of carbonyl compounds are poorly understood. In this study, we investigate the surface adsorption and surface chemistry of methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), the second most abundant ketone in the atmosphere, with several mineral oxide surfaces including SiO₂, α-Fe₂O₃ and TiO₂. In particular, the chemistry of MEK with these common components of mineral dust, under both dry and high relative humidity (RH%) conditions, has been investigated. Furthermore, reactions of adsorbed MEK with gas-phase NO₂ were also examined. We show that MEK molecularly and reversibly adsorbs on SiO₂ whereas irreversible adsorption occurs on both α-Fe₂O₃ and TiO₂ surfaces, followed by the formation of higher molar mass species resulting from dimerization and oligomerization reactions. Isotope labeling experiments confirmed the incorporation of H atoms from surface hydroxyl groups and strongly adsorbed water into these oligomer products. Most interesting is that at 80% RH, oligomer formation on α-Fe₂O₃ shifts toward a higher relative abundance of MEK tetramer relative to the dimer while on TiO₂ there was no change in product distribution. In the presence of gas-phase NO₂, MEK undergoes degradation to formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, followed by the formation of aldol condensation products of these aldehydes on the α-Fe₂O₃ surface. Overall, this study provides mechanistic insights on mineralogy-specific heterogeneous chemistry of a prevalent and atmospherically abundant ketone.