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Major Funding: DOE EPA NASA NSF Send comments to nmd@andrew.cmu.edu Last updated: 8 May 2007 by nmd |
Fundamental ChemistryAtmospheric chemistry is a rich source for basic questions in the chemical sciences. For example, we are profoundly interested in the oxidation of organic compounds in atmospheric particles by oxidants found in the gas phase (OH radical and ozone, especially). One basic question is to understand why these reactions have different rates in the two phases. Another basic issue is to understand how homologous sequences of hydrocarbon oxidation exhibit a wide variety of oxidation behavior -- for example to understand why the yield of organic nitrates increases systematically with carbon number in crucial reactions but appears to reach a limiting value of between 30 and 50%. More by Neil. |