Kinetics and mechanism of the oxidation of dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) and methanesulfinate (MSI-) by OH radicals in aqueous medium

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Authors

  • H. Bardouki
  • Marcelo Barcellos Da Rosa
  • Nikos Mihalopoulos
  • Wolf-Ulrich Palm
  • Cornelius Zetzsch

Kinetics and product distribution of the reaction of dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) and methanesulfinate (MSI -) with OH radicals and H 2O 2 in the aqueous phase are reported in this work. DMSO is found to be very stable in pure water or in solutions containing H 2O 2. On the other hand, it reacts very rapidly (k=4.5×10 9M -1s -1) with OH radicals. MSI - has been identified as the main intermediate product, while methanesulfonate (MS -) and sulfate were the final products due to the very fast reaction of MSI - with OH radicals (k=1.2×10 10M -1s -1). MS - has been identified as the major end product (yield higher than 95%) of both DMSO and MSI - reactions by OH radicals in aqueous solutions. The potential implications of these reactions for the biogenic sulfur cycle in the atmosphere are presented and discussed.

Original languageEnglish
JournalAtmospheric Environment
Volume36
Issue number29
Pages (from-to)4627-4634
Number of pages8
ISSN1352-2310
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.10.2002

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank the European Commission, DOMAC (ENV4-CT97-0410) and EL-CID (ENK2-CT-1999-00033) projects for financial support and M. Kanakidou and an unknown reviewer for helpful remarks. M. Barcellos da Rossa thanks the DAAD for a stipend.

    Research areas

  • Chemistry - Sulfur cycle, Photo-oxidation, Heterogeneous reactions, DMS, DMSO, MSIA, MSA, OH