Scientists have discovered an entirely new class of super-reactive chemical compounds in the Earth's atmosphere that they say may affect both human health and global climate.
The study, published in the journal Science, documented for the first time the formation of so-called trioxides – extremely oxidising chemical compounds with three oxygen atoms attached to each other.
"This is what we have now accomplished. The type of compounds we discovered are unique in their structure. And, because they are extremely oxidising, they most likely bring a host of effects that we have yet to uncover," study senior author Henrik Grum Kjærgaard from the University of Copenhagen said in a statement.
In the new study, scientists have shown that hydrotrioxides, as they are known, are a completely new class of chemical compounds that form under atmospheric conditions.
Hydrotrioxides are a kind of hydrogen polyoxide, with water – containing two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom – being the simplest and most common of the type.