Oxygen Effect on the Ultraviolet-C Photochemistry of Lactic Acid.

Autor: Deal AM; Department of Chemistry, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309, United States.; Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309, United States., Vaida V; Department of Chemistry, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309, United States.; Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309, United States.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The journal of physical chemistry. A [J Phys Chem A] 2023 Apr 06; Vol. 127 (13), pp. 2936-2945. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Mar 24.
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.3c00992
Abstrakt: Lactic acid, a small α-hydroxyacid, is ubiquitous in both indoor and outdoor environments. Recently, the photochemistry of lactic acid has garnered interest among the abiotic organic chemistry community as it would have been present in abiotic settings and photoactive with the high-energy solar radiation that would have been available in the low oxygen early Earth environment. Additionally, we propose that the photochemistry of lactic acid is relevant to modern Earth during indoor ultraviolet-C (UVC) sterilization procedures as lactic acid is emitted by humans and is thus prevalent in indoor environments where UVC sterilization is increasingly being used. Here, we study the oxygen effect on the gas phase photolysis of lactic acid using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and isotopically labeled oxygen ( 18 O 2 ). We find that the major products of gas phase lactic acid photolysis are CO 2 , CO, acetaldehyde, and acetic acid. Furthermore, these products are the same with or without added oxygen, but the partial pressures of produced CO 2 , CO, and acetaldehyde increase with the amount of added oxygen. Notably, the added oxygen is primarily incorporated into produced CO 2 and CO, while little or none is incorporated into acetaldehyde. We combine the results presented here with those in the literature to propose a mechanism for the gas phase photolysis of lactic acid and the role of oxygen in this mechanism. Finally, we compare the output of a krypton-chloride excimer lamp (λ = 222 nm), one of the lamps proposed for UVC sterilization procedures, to the absorption of lactic acid. We show that lactic acid would be photoactive during UVC sterilization procedures, and we use the gas phase results presented here and aqueous lactic acid photolysis results previously published to assess potential byproducts from lactic acid reactions during UVC sterilization procedures.
Databáze: MEDLINE