J. Phys. Chem. A, 108 (47), 10473 -10485, 2004. 10.1021/jp046604x S1089-5639(04)06604-6
Web Release Date: November 2, 2004

Copyright © 2004 American Chemical Society

Interaction of Gas-Phase Ozone at 296 K with Unsaturated Self-Assembled Monolayers: A New Look at an Old System

Yael Dubowski, John Vieceli, Douglas J. Tobias,* Anthony Gomez, Ao Lin, Sergey A. Nizkorodov, Theresa M. McIntire, and Barbara J. Finlayson-Pitts*

Department of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California 92697-2025

Received: July 29, 2004

In Final Form: September 2, 2004

Abstract:

The oxidation of organics adsorbed on surfaces by ozone is of fundamental chemical interest and potentially important in the lower atmosphere. Studies of the oxidation of the three-carbon and eight-carbon vinyl-terminated self-assembled monolayers (SAMs, C3= and C8=) on a silicon ATR (attenuated total reflectance) crystal by gas-phase O3 at 296 K are reported. Oxidation of the SAMs was followed in real time by ATR-FTIR using ozone concentrations that spanned 5 orders of magnitude, from ~1011 to 1016 molecules cm-3. For comparison, some studies of the saturated C8 SAM were also carried out. The films were also characterized by atomic force microscopy and water contact angle measurements. The loss of C=C and the formation of C=O were measured in real time and shown to be consistent with a Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism in which O3 is rapidly adsorbed on the surface and then reacts more slowly with the alkene moiety. This is supported by molecular dynamics (MD) calculations which show that O3 does not simply undergo elastic collisions but has a significant residence time on the surface. However, the kinetics measurements indicate a much longer residence time than the MD calculations, suggesting a chemisorption of O3. Formaldehyde was observed as a gas-phase product by infrared cavity ring down spectroscopy. Possible mechanisms of the ozonolysis and its atmospheric implications are discussed.


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