Understanding Chemistry in the Atmosphere: New Problems and Challenges
Joseph S. Francisco
Department of Chemistry and Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
Purdue University
Abstract:
Chemistry occurring in the atmosphere is responsible for local and regional air pollution and plays a significant role in global climate change. Understanding chemistry in the atmosphere at a molecular level is central to developing effective strategies that can remediate the environmental consequences. Atmospheric reactions that occur in the gas phase, and the various classes of these reactions that describe chemical processing in the atmosphere will be examined. A new class of reactions that involve radical-molecule association complexes will be discussed in particular their unique stability and photochemistry and new fundamental chemistry that are changing traditional perspectives of atmospheric reactions. This talk will also discuss current challenges in understanding reactions of gases at the interface between air and aerosols. Probing the kinetics and mechanisms at the molecular level of these processes will be discussed.