Ambient gas-particle partitioning of atmospheric carbonyl at an urban site in Beijing

Carbonyls are important oxidation intermediates of hydrocarbons and major carcinogenic and genotoxic compounds in urban areas. While their health and climate impacts are primarily associated with their gas-particle conversion such as oligomers and brown carbon formation in particle phase, however, observations of their actual ambient gas-particle partitioning are sparse. In this study, the Sep-Pak DNPH-Silica Gel Cartridges and a four-channel particle sampler were used to collect carbonyls in gaseous and particle (PM2.5) phases simultaneously. Six carbonyls (formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acetone, propionaldehyde and two dicarbonyls, glyoxal and methylglyoxal) of the ten observed in gas phase (plus butyraldehyde, methacrolein, methyl vinyl ketone, benzaldehyde) were detected in ambient particles. The measured gas/particle (G/P) partitioning coefficients (Kp,field) of the six carbonyls were calculated and compared to their predicted G/P partitioning coefficients (Kp,theor) based on the absorptive partitioning theory. The values of Kp,field are 105-106 times higher than Kp,theor and the Kp,field of the measured total carbonyls were determined to be as high as (0.3-11)×10-4 m3 µg-1, indicating that small carbonyls were much easier to enter the particle phase than previously expected and their distribution between gas and particles varied greatly with environmental conditions. The measured Kp,CHOCHO > Kp,CH3COCHO > Kp,CH3CH3CHO > Kp,CH3CHO ≈ Kp,HCHO > Kp,CH3COCH3, suggesting that the aldehyde group, to some extent, is more likely to promote the carbonyl compounds into particle phase than ketone group and methyl group. The variation trends of the measured G/P partitioning coefficients were very consistent and significantly correlated, and did not reflect the different salting effect for glyoxal and methylglyoxal ("salting-in" for glyoxal and "salting-out" for methylglyoxal), which indicated that the factors affecting the gas-particle partitioning of carbonyls in the ambient air may be similar in ambient urban atmosphere. These results contribute to a better understanding of the partitioning of small carbonyls in gaseous and particle phases as well as their health and climate impacts.