DRIFTS Studies and Quantification of Water uptake experiments onto Iron(II) fumarate, Polyguaiacol and Polycatechol particles

M. A. Rahman, Department of Chemistry, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka 1342, Bangladesh

Abstract

This research investigates the hygroscopic properties of organic and organometallic polymeric
particles, namely Iron(II) fumarate, Polyguaiacol, and Polycatechol. These particles are efficiently
formed in iron-catalyzed reactions with aromatic and aliphatic dicarboxylic acid compounds which
were detected in field-collected Secondary Organic Aerosol (SOA). The structure of surface water
was studied using diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS).
Spectroscopic data show that water bonding with organic functional groups acting as hydrogen bond
acceptors causes shifts in their vibrational modes. Analysis of the hydroxyl group stretching region
revealed weak and strong hydrogen bonding networks that suggest cluster formation reflecting
water-water and water-organics interactions, respectively. A modified Type II multilayer Brunauer
Emmett-Teller (BET) adsorption model described the adsorption isotherm on the materials, Fe
fumarate, polycatechol, and polyguaiacol. Modified BET analysis shows that multilayer adsorption
takes place for model organic compounds.