Jesse Kroll
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA·Chemistry
Vehicles, wildfires and plants release organic compounds into the air, where chemical reactions transform them into ozone, formaldehyde and fine particles that degrade air quality and affect climate. Nearly all of these reactions pass through organic peroxy radicals (RO2), short-lived, highly reactive molecules whose next reactions decide which products form.
- Fields
Chemistry
Earth & Environmental Science
Engineering
- Topics
atmospheric chemistry
organic peroxy radicals
volatile organic compounds
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Jul 2028
What they work on
- Measure how ozone, formaldehyde and secondary organic aerosol form, and in what amounts, when isoprene, monoterpenes and aromatics are oxidized in chambers across the full range of atmospheric organic peroxy radical (RO2) conditions.
- Test whether state-of-the-art chemical mechanisms, or estimates from extreme cases where RO2 reacts only with NO or only with HO2, accurately predict secondary products measured in model-informed chamber experiments.
- Measure product distributions from OH oxidation of water-soluble multifunctional organics in water, using online mass spectrometry, moving from dilute solutions to concentrated, acidic, high-salt solutions and deliquesced particles.
- Predict rates, mechanisms and solvent effects of RO2 reactions in atmospheric water using computational chemistry, to build a predictive model of aqueous-phase RO2 chemistry.
More about the research
The lab's two projects follow RO2 chemistry in two settings: in the gas phase under realistic atmospheric conditions, and inside liquid water in clouds and particles.
Why it matters
Ozone, formaldehyde and secondary organic aerosol harm air quality, and atmospheric models often misjudge how they form. Better measurements of RO2 chemistry in air and in cloud and particle water could improve the chemical mechanisms used in air-quality and climate models, helping researchers and regulators predict pollution from vehicles, wildfires and plant emissions.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Rachel O'Brien
University of Michigan, MI·Earth & Environmental Science·Early-career
Measure how fast quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs), common disinfectants, break down when exposed to OH radicals or ozone in airborne particles and indoor surface films.
Tran Nguyen
University of California-Davis, CA·Chemistry·Early-career
Measure light-driven production of sulfate radicals in aqueous particles and bulk water, and how it depends on pH, particle liquid water content, ionic strength and interfacial surface area.
John Mak
Stony Brook University, NY·Earth & Environmental Science
Measure the specific volatile organic compounds over greater New York, including those from volatile chemical products, using instruments aboard the NSF C-130 aircraft.
The school
Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 25 labs on PI Pages, $1.1B a year on research, 692 research doctorates a year.
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