Probing Molecular Associations of Secondary Organic Aerosol (SOA) Samples from CalNex 2010 with Nano-DESI High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry

This project focuses on analyzing the identities of molecules that comprise oligomers in size resolved aerosol fractions. Since oligomers are generally too large and polar to be measured by typical GC/MS analysis, soft ionization with high resolution mass spectrometry is used to extend the range of observable compounds. Samples collected during CalNex 2010 in Bakersfield and Los Angeles and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) produced in a photochemical chamber by photooxidation of diesel (DSL) fuel and isoprene (ISO) under humid, high-NOx conditions have been analyzed with nanospray desorption electrospray ionization (nano-DESI) and a high-resolution Orbitrap mass spectrometer. The nano-DESI is a soft ionization technique that allows molecular ions to be observed and the Orbitrap has sufficient resolution to determine the elemental composition of almost all species above the detection limit. A large fraction of SOA is made up of high molecular weight oligomers which are thought to form through acid catalyzed reactions of photo-chemically processed volatile organic compounds (VOC). The formation of oligomers is influenced by the VOCs available, the amount of atmospheric sulfate and nitrate, and the magnitude of photo-chemical processing, among other potential influences. We present the elemental composition of chemical species in size resolved SOA samples with six-hour time resolution, providing the first time resolved data set for the study of these oligomers in atmospheric samples. We present a comparison of the degree of overlap between the ambient and chamber experiments as a novel method to examine sources for this fraction of SOA. Possible formation pathways and sources of observed compounds are analyzed by comparison to other concurrent measurements at the site.