Importance of SOA formation of α-pinene, limoneneand m -cresol comparing day-and night-time radical chemistry

Abstract. The oxidation of biogenic and anthropogenic compounds leads to the formation of secondary organic aerosol mass (SOA). The present study aims to investigate α-pinene, limonene and m-cresol with regards to their SOA formation potential dependent on relative humidity (RH) under night- (NO3 radicals) and day-time conditions (OH radicals) and the resulting chemical composition. It was found that SOA formation potential of limonene with NO3 significantly exceeds the one of the OH radical reaction, with SOA yields of 15–30 % and 10–21 %, respectively. Additionally, the nocturnal SOA yield was found to be very sensitive towards RH, yielding more SOA under dry conditions. On the contrary, the SOA formation potential of α-pinene with NO3 slightly exceeds that of the OH radical reaction, independent from RH. In average, α-pinene yielded SOA with about 6–7 % from NO3 radicals and 3–4 % from OH radical reaction. Surprisingly, unexpected high SOA yields were found for m-cresol oxidation with OH radicals (3–9 %) with the highest yield under elevated RH (9 %) which is most likely attributed to a higher fraction of 3-methyl-6-nitro-catechol (MNC). While α-pinene and m-cresol SOA was found to be mainly composed of water-soluble compounds, 50–68 % of nocturnal SOA and 22–39 % of daytime limonene SOA is water-insoluble. The fraction of SOA-bound peroxides which originated from α-pinene varied between 2–80 % as a function of RH. Furthermore, SOA from α-pinene revealed pinonic acid as the most important particle-phase constituent under day- and night-time conditions with fraction of 1–4 %. Further compounds detected are norpinonic acid (0.05–1.1 % mass fraction), terpenylic acid (0.1–1.1 % mass fraction), pinic acid (0.1–1.8 % mass fraction) and 3-methyl-1,2,3-tricarboxylic acid (0.05–0.5 % mass fraction). All marker compounds showed higher fractions under dry conditions when formed during daytime and almost no RH effect when formed during night.