UV spectra and OH-oxidation kinetics of gaseous phase morpholinic compounds

This paper presents an experimental study of the UV spectra as well as the kinetics of gaseous phase OH-oxidation of morpholine, N-formylmorpholine (NFM) and N-acetlymorpholine (NAM). The spectra recorded using a UV spectrometer in the spectral range 200–280 nm show that the analytes mainly absorb at wavelengths less than 280 nm. This indicates that their photolysis potential in the troposphere is insignificant. Meanwhile, the OH-reactivity of these analytes was studied using a triple-jacket 2 m long reactor equipped with a multi-reflection system and coupled to an FTIR spectrometer. The experiments were carried out at 295 and 313 K for the amine and amides, respectively. The study was conducted in the relative mode using isoprene and benzaldehyde as reference compounds. The rate constants obtained are 14.0 ± 1.9, 4.0 ± 1.1 and 3.8 ± 1.0 (in units of 10−11 cm3 molecule−1 s−1) for morpholine, NFM and NAM respectively. These results are discussed in terms of reactivity and compared to those obtained for other oxy-nitrogenated species. In addition, the determined rate constants are used to estimate effective atmospheric lifetimes of the investigated morpholinic compounds with respect to reaction with OH radicals.