Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Physical Chemistry Seminar Series

Professor David Limmer, University of California—Berkeley
Hosted by: Marina Guenza

On the nature of chemical reactivity in atmospheric aerosol

Most of our intuition about chemistry stems from observations made in macroscopic beakers. Increasingly observations made in small containers, where surface to volume ratios are large, defy standard expectations suggesting that on the smallest scales chemical reactivity can be altered.

In this talk, I will discuss some of our work on chemical reactivity in the presence of extensive air-water interfaces, like that which occur in atmospheric aerosol. I will show how rates and mechanisms of reactions can vary dramatically in such heterogeneous environments and how modern computational tools can be deployed to render testable predictions.