Effect of NO<sub>x</sub> on 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene (TMB) oxidation product distribution and particle formation

Abstract. Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) represents a significant fraction of the tropospheric aerosol and its precursors are volatile organic compounds (VOC). Anthropogenic VOCs (AVOC) dominate the VOC budget in many urban areas with 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene (TMB) being among the most reactive aromatic AVOCs. TMB formed highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOM) in NOx free environment, which could contribute to new particle formation (NPF) depending on oxidation conditions were elevated OH oxidation enhanced particle formation. The experiments were performed in an oxidation flow reactor, the Go : PAM unit, under controlled OH oxidation conditions. By addition of NOx to the system we investigated the effect of NOx on particle formation and on the product distribution. We show that the formation of HOM and especially HOM accretion products, strongly varies with NOx conditions. We observe a suppression of HOM and particle formation with increasing NOx / ΔTMB and an increase in the formation of organonitrates (ON) mostly at the expense of HOM accretion products. We propose reaction mechanisms/pathways that explain the formation and observed product distributions with respect to oxidation conditions. We hypothesize that, based on our findings from TMB oxidation studies, aromatic AVOCs may not contribute significantly to NPF under typical NOx / AVOC conditions found in urban atmospheres.