Water catalysis of the reaction between methanol and OH at 294 K and the atmospheric implications

R. JARA TORO; F. HERNÁNDEZ; R. A. TACCONE; S. I. LANE; G. A. PINO *

Angewandte Chemie

WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH

Lugar: Weinheim; Año: 2017 vol. 56 p. 2166 - 2170

1433-7851

Therate coefficient for the reaction CH3OH + OH was determined by means of arelative method in a simulation chamber under quasi-real atmospheric conditions (294K, 1 atm of air) and variable humidity or water concentration. Under theseconditions, a quadratic dependence of the rate coefficient for the reaction CH3OH+ OH on the water concentration was found. This result allows concluding thatthe catalytic effect of water is not only important at low temperatures, butalso at room temperature. The detailed mechanism responsible of the reaction acceleration isstill unknown. However, this dependence should be included in the atmosphericglobal models since it is expected to be important in humid regions as in thetropics. Additionally, it could explain several differences regarding theglobal and local atmospheric concentration of methanol in tropical areas, forwhich many speculations about the sinks and sources of methanol have beenreported.