Mechanisms and product distribution of the O3-initiated degradation of (E)-2-heptenal, (E)-2-octenal and (E)-2-nonenal

Abstract

The O3-molecule initiated degradation of three 2-alkenals (E)-2-heptenal, (E)-2-octenal, and (E)-2-nonenal has been investigated in a 1080 L quartz-glass environmental chamber at 298 ± 2 K and atmospheric pressure of synthetic air using in situ FTIR spectroscopy to monitor the reactants and products. The experiments were performed in the absence of an OH scavenger. The molar yields of the primary products formed were glyoxal (49 ± 4) % and pentanal (34 ± 3) % from the reaction of (E)-2-heptenal with O3, glyoxal (41 ± 3) % and hexanal (39 ± 3) % from the reaction of (E)-2-octenal with O3, and glyoxal (45 ± 3) % and heptanal (46 ± 3) % from the reaction of (E)-2-nonenal with O3. The residual bands in the infrared product spectra for each of the studied reactions are attributed to 2-oxoaldehyde compounds. Based on the observed products, a general mechanism for the ozonolysis reaction of long chain unsaturated aldehydes is proposed, and the results are compared with the available literature data.