Spectroscopic Properties of Anisole at the Air-Ice Interface: A Combined Experimental-Computational Approach.

A combined experimental and computational approach was used to investigate the spectroscopic properties of anisole in aqueous solutions and at the ice-air interface in the temperature range of 77-298 K. The absorption, diffuse reflectance, and emission spectra of ice samples containing anisole prepared by different techniques, such as slow freezing (frozen aqueous solutions), shock freezing (ice grains), or anisole vapor deposition on ice grains, were measured to evaluate changes in the contaminated ice matrix that occur at different temperatures. It was found that the position of the lowest absorption band of anisole and its tail shift bathochromically by ∼4 nm in frozen samples compared to liquid aqueous solutions. On the other hand, the emission spectra of aqueous anisole solutions were found to fundamentally change upon freezing. While one emission band (∼290 nm) was observed under all circumstances, the second band at ∼350 nm, assigned to an anisole excimer, appeared only at certain temperatures (150-250 K). Its disappearance at lower temperatures is attributed to the formation of crystalline anisole on the ice surface. DFT and ADC(2) calculations were used to interpret the absorption and emission spectra of anisole monomer and dimer associates. Various stable arrangements of the anisole associates were found at the disordered water-air interface in the ground and excited states, but only those with a substantial overlap of the aromatic rings are manifested by the emission band at ∼350 nm.

Spectroscopic Properties of Naphthalene on the Surface of Ice Grains Revisited: A Combined Experimental-Computational Approach.

An experimental-computational method is used to investigate the spectroscopic behavior of naphthalene on the surface of ice grains. UV-vis diffuse reflectance and fluorescence spectroscopies of naphthalene combined with DFT and ADC(2) calculations provide evidence for the occurrence of excited-state associates. The measured and calculated bathochromic shifts of the S0 → S1 electronic transitions related to naphthalene dimers or naphthalene-ice interactions do not exceed 3 nm. The bands observed in the emission spectrum of frozen naphthalene solutions are assigned to excited dimers of different mutual orientations, naphthalene phosphorescence, and fluorescence of anthracene present as a trace impurity and populated by the energy transfer from excited naphthalene. Photochemical reactivity in/on ice and snow is dependent on the absorption properties and speciation of the compounds present in these media. Hence, within this study, we exploit frozen solutions of naphthalene to demonstrate both the absence of considerable bathochromic shift and a strong tendency to aggregate.

Spectroscopic properties of benzene at the air-ice interface: a combined experimental-computational approach.

A combined experimental and computational approach was used to study the spectroscopic properties of benzene at the ice-air interface at 253 and 77 K in comparison with its spectroscopic behavior in aqueous solutions. Benzene-contaminated ice samples were prepared either by shock-freezing of benzene aqueous solutions or by benzene vapor-deposition on pure ice grains and examined using UV diffuse reflectance and emission spectroscopies. Neither the absorption nor excitation nor emission spectra provided unambiguous evidence of benzene associates on the ice surface even at a higher surface coverage. Only a small increase in the fluorescence intensity in the region above 290 nm found experimentally might be associated with formation of benzene excimers perturbed by the interaction with the ice surface as shown by ADC(2) excited-state calculations. The benzene associates were found by MD simulations and ground-state DFT calculations, although not in the arrangement that corresponds to the excimer structures. Our experimental results clearly demonstrated that the energy of the S0 → S1 electronic transition of benzene is not markedly affected by the phase change or the microenvironment at the ice-air interface and its absorption is limited to the wavelengths below 268 nm. Neither benzene interactions with the water molecules of ice nor the formation of dimers and microcrystals at the air-ice interface thus causes any substantial bathochromic shift in its absorption spectrum. Such a critical evaluation of the photophysical properties of organic contaminants of snow and ice is essential for predictions and modeling of chemical processes occurring in polar regions.

Rate acceleration of the heterogeneous reaction of ozone with a model alkene at the air-ice interface at low temperatures.

The kinetics of the ozonation reaction of 1,1-diphenylethylene (DPE) on the surface of ice grains (also called "artificial snow"), produced by shock-freezing of DPE aqueous solutions or DPE vapor-deposition on pure ice grains, was studied in the temperature range of 268 to 188 K. A remarkable and unexpected increase in the apparent ozonation rates with decreasing temperature was evaluated using the Langmuir-Hinshelwood and Eley-Rideal kinetic models, and by estimating the apparent specific surface area of the ice grains. We suggest that an increase of the number of surface reactive sites, and possibly higher ozone uptake coefficients are responsible for the apparent rate acceleration of DPE ozonation at the air-ice interface at lower temperatures. The increasing number of reactive sites is probably related to the fact that organic molecules are displaced more to the top of a disordered interface (or quasi-liquid) layer on the ice surface, which makes them more accessible to the gas-phase reactants. The effect of NaCl as a cocontaminant on ozonation rates was also investigated. The environmental implications of this phenomenon for natural ice/snow are discussed. DPE was selected as an example of environmentally relevant species which can react with ozone. For typical atmospheric ozone concentrations in polar areas (20 ppbv), we estimated that its half-life on the ice surface would decrease from ∼5 days at 258 K to ∼13 h at 188 K at submonolayer DPE loadings.