Heterogeneous reaction of particle-associated triphenylene with NO3 radicals

Although heterogeneous reactions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with atmospheric oxidants may be important loss processes for PAHs, our understanding of their kinetics and products is incomplete. The study of heterogeneous reaction of suspended triphenylene particles with NO3 radicals is undertaken in a flow-tube-reactor. The time-of-flight mass spectra of particulate triphenylene and its nitration products are obtained with vacuum ultraviolet photoionization aerosol time-of-flight mass spectrometer. 1- and 2-nitrotriphenylene are identified by GC–MS analysis of the products formed from the reaction of NO3 radicals with triphenylene coated on the inner bottom surface of a conical flask. 1-Nitrotriphenylene is formed in larger yield than 2-nitrotriphenylene. This phenomenon is different from what had been observed in previous studies of the gas-phase triphenylene nitration, showing that 2-nitrotriphenylene is the major nitration product. The experimental results may reveal the discrepancies between heterogeneous and homogeneous nitrations of triphenylene.