The ozonation of hydroxyl compounds(e.g., sugars and alcohols) gives a broad range of products such as alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, and carboxylic acids. This study developed and optimized a two-step derivatization procedure for analyzing polar products of aldehydes and carboxylic acids from the ozonation of diethylene glycol(DEG) in a non-aqueous environment using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Experiments based on Central Composite Design with response surface methodology were carried out to evaluate the effects of derivatization variables and their interactions on the analysis. The most desirable derivatization conditions were reported, i.e., oximation was performed at room temperature overnight with the o-(2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorobenzyl) hydroxyl amine to analyte molar ratio of 6, silylation reaction temperature of 70°C, reaction duration of 70 min, and N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl)-trifluoroacetamide volume of 12.5 μL. The applicability of this optimized procedure was verified by analyzing DEG ozonation products in an ultrafine condensation particle counter simulation system.
To better characterize the optical properties of atmospheric aerosols, the multi-wavelength cavity ring-down aerosol extinction spectrometer(MCRD-AES) is developed and applied in this study. By using tunable light source and four parallel cavities, the MCRD-AES covers a wide and atmospherically relevant wavelength range from 360 to 663 nm. Four wavelengths(375 nm, 440 nm, 532 nm, and 620 nm) are particularly tested with ammonium sulfate and nigrosine. The refractive index values obtained from this study agree well with literature data. The stability and accuracy of the MCRD-AES are tested, and the minimum detectable extinction coefficient is 0.5 1/Mm. The high sensitivity, high precision, and wavelength changeable of MCRD-AES indicate its great application prospect in comprehensively quantifying the optical properties of atmospheric aerosols.
