Reactivity of poly-alcohols towards OH, NO3 and SO4− in aqueous solution

Radicals and radical anions such as OH, NO3 and SO4− can act as important oxidants in aqueous solutions, e.g. as a part of the tropospheric multiphase system. In the present study the aqueous phase kinetics of OH, NO3 and SO4− radical reactions with the following ten aliphatic poly-alcohols 1,2-ethanediol, 1,2-propanediol, 1,3-propanediol, 1,2,3-propanetriol, 1,2-butanediol, 1,4-butanediol, 1,5-pentanediol, (2R,3S)-butane-1,2,3,4-tetraol (meso-erythritol), (2R,4R)-pentane-1,2,3,4,5-pentol (arabitol) and (2R,3R,4R,5R)-hexane-1,2,3,4,5,6-hexol (mannitol) were investigated. These alcohols are both of anthropogenic and of biogenic origin and all are highly water soluble. All rate constants throughout this study were determined as a function of the temperature between 278 ≤T [K] ≤ 328. OH radical reactions with poly-alcohols (k2nd = 1.6–4.7 × 109 L mol−1 s−1) are the fastest among the three investigated radicals. The corresponding NO3 radical (k2nd = 0.66–1.5 × 107 L mol−1 s−1) and SO4− radical (k2nd = 2.7–5.3 × 107 L mol−1 s−1) reactions are on average two orders of magnitude slower. All three radicals react by an H-abstraction mechanism preferably at the α-carbon atom of the investigated alcohols. Kinetic measurements were performed using laser flash photolysis-long path absorption (LFP-LPA). Rate constants were measured either directly following the NO3 and SO4− concentration–time profile or by a competition kinetics method using a well characterized reference reaction (SCN−) for OH radicals. Furthermore, obtained kinetic data are used to extend existing reactivity correlations for H-abstraction reactions with bond dissociation energies in aqueous solution and to calculate the tropospheric lifetimes of the alcohols.