<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//NLM//DTD Journal Publishing DTD v3.0 20080202//EN" "https://jats.nlm.nih.gov/nlm-dtd/publishing/3.0/journalpublishing3.dtd">
<article xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" article-type="research-article" specific-use="SMUR" dtd-version="3.0" xml:lang="en">
<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub"></issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2025-5323</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Rapid Secondary Organic Aerosol Formation at the Air&amp;ndash;Water Interface from Methoxyphenols in Wildfire Emissions: UVA-Driven S(IV) Photooxidation to Organosulfates</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Cai</surname>
<given-names>Baohua</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Huang</surname>
<given-names>Yuanlong</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Jiang</surname>
<given-names>Wenqing</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6869-3232</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Li</surname>
<given-names>Yanchen</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0009-0005-3231-0892</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Li</surname>
<given-names>Yali</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Zhai</surname>
<given-names>Jinghao</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9538-2299</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Zeng</surname>
<given-names>Yaling</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Ye</surname>
<given-names>Jianhuai</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9063-3260</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Shen</surname>
<given-names>Huizhong</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1335-8477</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Wang</surname>
<given-names>Chen</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9565-8777</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Zhu</surname>
<given-names>Lei</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3919-3095</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Fu</surname>
<given-names>Tzung-May</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8556-7326</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Zhang</surname>
<given-names>Qi</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5203-8778</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Yang</surname>
<given-names>Xin</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9173-1188</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Precision Measurement and Early Warning Technology for Urban  Environmental Health Risks, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of  Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Ningbo Institute of Digital Twin, Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo 315201, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>Department of Environmental Toxicology, University of California, Davis, California 95616, United States</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff4">
<label>4</label>
<addr-line>Guangdong Provincial Field Observation and Research Station for Coastal Atmosphere and Climate of the  Greater Bay Area, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518055, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>12</day>
<month>11</month>
<year>2025</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2025</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>25</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2025 Baohua Cai et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2025</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-5323/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-5323/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-5323/egusphere-2025-5323.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-5323/egusphere-2025-5323.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Wildfire emissions release large amounts of methoxyphenols, which serve as key precursors of aqueous-phase secondary organic aerosols (SOA). Their transformation is closely coupled with aqueous S(IV) oxidation, jointly driving the formation of sulfate and organosulfates; however, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we identify a novel, metal-free mechanism for SO&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&amp;bull;-&lt;/sup&gt; generation under UVA light (370 nm), supported by experiments and quantum chemical calculations. Photolysis of the [SO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;2-&lt;/sup&gt;+O&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;] complex yields a [SO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&amp;bull;-&lt;/sup&gt;+O&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&amp;bull;-&lt;/sup&gt;] pair that forms peroxomonosulfate (SO&lt;sub&gt;5&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&amp;bull;-&lt;/sup&gt;) and ultimately SO&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&amp;bull;-&lt;/sup&gt;. These radicals rapidly oxidize guaiacol, a biomass burning phenol, in bulk solution (&lt;em&gt;k&lt;/em&gt; = 3.8 &amp;times; 10&lt;sup&gt;10&lt;/sup&gt; M&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt; s&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt;), producing SOA enriched in organosulfates. Microdroplet experiments show 100-fold rate enhancement due to interfacial effects. Box and global modeling indicate that this aqueous UVA pathway is a significant, previously overlooked source of sulfate. This work established a new photochemical link between S(IV) oxidation and SOA formation, with implications for aerosol composition, oxidative capacity, and climate-relevant processes.</p>
</abstract>
<counts><page-count count="25"/></counts>
</article-meta>
</front>
<body/>
<back>
</back>
</article>