Effect of gaseous ammonia on nicotine sorption
Nicotine is a major constituent of environmental tobacco smoke. Sorptive interactions of nicotine with indoor surfaces can substantially alter indoor concentrations. The phenomenon is poorly understood, including whether sorption is fully reversible or partially irreversible. They hypothesize that acid-base chemistry on indoor surfaces might contribute to the apparent irreversibility of nicotine sorption under some circumstances. Specifically, they suggest that nicotine may become protonated on surfaces, markedly reducing its vapor pressure. If so, subsequent exposure of the surface to gaseous ammonia, a common base, could raise the surface pH, causing deprotonation and desorption of nicotine from surfaces. A series of experiments was conducted to explore the effect of ammonia on nicotine sorption to and reemission from surfaces. The results indicate that, under some conditions, exposure to gaseous ammonia can substantially increase the rate of desorption of previously sorbed nicotine from common indoor surface materials.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE; National Science Foundation (NSF); University of California. Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program. Award 7RT-0099 (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC03-76SF00098
- OSTI ID:
- 841092
- Report Number(s):
- LBNL-50879; R&D Project: 803L01; TRN: US200513%%328
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Indoor Air 2002, Monterey, CA (US), 06/30/2002--07/05/2002; Other Information: PBD: 1 Jun 2002
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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