Dissociation of strong acid revisited: X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations of HNO3 in water.

Molecular-level insight into the dissociation of nitric acid in water is obtained from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and first-principles molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Our combined studies reveal surprisingly abrupt changes in solvation configurations of undissociated nitric acid at approximately 4 M concentration. Experimentally, this is inferred from shifts of the N1s binding energy of HNO(3)(aq) as a function of concentration and is associated with variations in the local electronic structure of the nitrogen atom.

Stoichiometry of ozonation of environmentally relevant olefins in saturated hydrocarbon solvents.

The double bond-to-ozone reaction stoichiometry was quantified for ozonation of several environmentally relevant unsaturated fatty acids and monoterpenes in saturated hydrocarbon solvents. Olefins with initial concentrations from 30 microM to 3mM were injected in a solvent (n-hexadecane, nonane, or cyclohexane) while an ozone-oxygen mixture was slowly bubbled through the solution. The number of ozone molecules consumed by the injection was quantified in the outgoing flow, and the expected 1:1 double bond-to-ozone reaction stoichiometry was observed only under subambient temperature conditions (T < 250 K).