A research team led by two professors from National Chiao Tung University’s applied chemistry department has become one of the first to detect and monitor the Criegee intermediate CH2OO, a molecule originally postulated in 1949, but only recently discovered.
“Criegee intermediates are carbonyl oxides postulated to play a key role in the reactions of ozone with unsaturated hydrocarbons” the team said.
The reactions form an important mechanism for removing unsaturated hydrocarbons and producing hydroxide in the atmosphere, it added.
Criegee intermediates were first proposed by Rudolf Criegee in 1949, but for decades scientists were unable to directly detect and identify the molecules due to their highly active nature and short lifespan.
Last year, a team of researchers from Sandia National Laboratories in the US reported direct measurements of reactions of a gas-phase Criegee intermediate using photo-ionization mass spectrometry.
National Chiao Tung University’s research team, which includes professors Henryk Witek and Lee Yuan-pern (李遠鵬), graduate student Su Yu-te (蘇育德) and doctoral student Huang Yu-hsuan (黃郁琁), has discovered the intermediate’s transient infrared absorption spectrum.
The team said the findings had been possible thanks to a newly improved step-scan Fourier-transform spectrometer that the laboratory had assembled itself.
The discovery may contribute to increased understanding of many different aspects of the atmosphere, such as acid rain, pollutants and climate change.
At a university event on Saturday, school president Wu Yen-hua (吳妍華) praised the team’s achievement, saying that it was an honor that the team’s “100 percent local” research was published in the internationally renowned Science magazine on Friday last week.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Chiayi County at 4:37pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 36.3km southeast of Chiayi County Hall at a depth of 10.4km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Chiayi County, Tainan and Kaohsiung on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Changhua, Nantou and Penghu counties, the data
RSS