The Donahue Group

Welcome to the research group of professor Neil Donahue.

We are part of the Center for Atmospheric Particle Studies and the Steinbrenner Environmental Institute for Education and Research in the departments of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.

We combine laboratory experiments using High Pressure Flow discharge flow kinetics and smog chamber oxidation studies, theoretical studies combining frontier orbital analysis, simple quantum mechanical models and statistical models of reaction dynamics, and in situ measurements of atmospheric organic compounds and free radicals. Fundamental questions driving our research include:

• What controls barrier heights and rate constants in radical-molecule reactions?
• What controls radical cycling in various regions of the atmosphere?
• Why are some reactions direct with single transition state, while others are indirect, with multiple transition states and short lived intermediates?
• How do oxidation mechanisms for reduced compounds vary from compound to compound and in different regions of the atmosphere?
• What are the dominant radical sources in the atmosphere?
• What is the role of vibrationally excited intermediates in the atmosphere?
• What controls urban and regional ozone production?