The analysis of chiral methyltetrols in atmospheric aerosols: A new look at Secondary Organic Aerosols from isoprene

The quantities of Secondary Organic Aerosols (SOA) produced in the atmosphere by the transformations of organic gases are difficult to estimate, isoprene having possibly and important contribution, but also containing the most uncertainties. One of the main challenges in this topic is the limited information on real atmospheric SOA, as there was, until recently, no method to distinguish unambiguously between secondary and primary organic compounds in atmospheric aerosols. We have developed a new analytical method to make this distinction, based on separating the enantiomers of organic compounds (isomers mirror images of each other) in aerosols. In this work, this method is applied to the 2-methyltetrols, 2-methylerythritol and 2-methylthreitol, present in PM2.5 aerosols collected at Aspvreten, Sweden from May to November 2008. These compounds are currently considered as the main evidence supporting the presence of SOA from isoprene in the atmosphere. The results of our analyses show that these compounds are, at least in part, from biological (or “primary”) origin. In particular, 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol was 15 % in excess of the total mass of 2-methyltetrols in May-July, clearly indicating its biological origin, and consistent with its well-documented production by plants. Furthermore, the concentrations of the remaining racemic diastereoisomers (total 2-methylerythritol and total 2-methylthreitol) did not correlate with each other, implying that at least one of them, or both, were also from biological origin. This was supported by their lack of correlation with ozone at the site. While atmospheric (abiotic) reactions might have contributed, it can not be excluded that these compounds were mostly from biological origin, thus challenging the main evidence for the existence of SOA from isoprene in the atmosphere.