Uptake and dissolution of gaseous ethanol in sulfuric acid.

The solubility of gas-phase ethanol (ethyl alcohol, CH3CH2OH, EtOH) in aqueous sulfuric acid solutions was measured in a Knudsen cell reactor over ranges of temperature (209-237 K) and acid composition (39-76 wt % H2SO4). Ethanol is very soluble under these conditions: effective Henry's law coefficients, H, range from 4 x 10(4) M atm(-1) in the 227 K, 39 wt % acid to greater than 10(7) M atm(-1) in the 76 wt % acid. In 76 wt % sulfuric acid, ethanol solubility exceeds that which can be precisely determined using the Knudsen cell technique but falls in the range of 10(7)-10(10) M atm(-1). The equilibrium concentration of ethanol in upper tropospheric/lower stratospheric (UT/LS) sulfate particles is calculated from these measurements and compared to other small oxygenated organic compounds. Even if ethanol is a minor component in the gas phase, it may be a major constituent of the organic fraction in the particle phase. No evidence for the formation of ethyl hydrogen sulfate was found under our experimental conditions. While the protonation of ethanol does augment solubility at higher acidity, the primary reason H increases with acidity is an increase in the solubility of molecular (i.e., neutral) ethanol.