Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 2695–2707, 2020 https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2695-2020 © Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Kinetic and mechanistic study of the reaction between methane sulfonamide (CH3S.O/2NH2) and OH Matias Berasategui, Damien Amedro, Achim Edtbauer, Jonathan Williams, Jos Lelieveld, and John N. Crowley Division of Atmospheric Chemistry, Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie, 55128 Mainz, Germany Correspondence: John N. Crowley (
[email protected]) Received: 8 November 2019 – Discussion started: 28 November 2019 Revised: 30 January 2020 – Accepted: 3 February 2020 – Published: 4 March 2020 Abstract. Methane sulfonamide (MSAM), CH3S.O/2NH2, The main organosulfur trace gases in the marine boundary was recently detected for the first time in ambient air over the layer are dimethyl sulfide (CH3SCH3, DMS) and its oxi- Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden where peak mixing ratios of dation products dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), dimethyl sul- ≈ 60 pptv were recorded. Prior to this study the rate constant fone (DMSO2), methyl sulfonic acid (MSA), and methyl for its reaction with the OH radical and the products thereby sulfinic acid (MSI) for which atmospheric lifetimes with re- formed were unknown, precluding assessment of its role in spect to their degradation by the OH radical vary between the atmosphere. We have studied the OH-initiated photo- hours (DMS) and several weeks (DMSO2). oxidation of MSAM in air (298 K, 700 Torr total pressure) Recently, the first detection of methane sulfonamide in a photochemical reactor using in situ detection of MSAM (CH3S.O/2NH2, MSAM) in ambient air was made during and its products by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) absorp- the Air Quality and Climate Change in the Arabian Basin tion spectroscopy.