Gas-phase chemical mechanisms are vital components of prognostic air quality models. The mechanisms are incorporated into modules that are used to calculate the chemical sources and sinks of ozone and the precursors of particulates. Fifty years ago essential atmospheric chemical processes, such as the importance of the hydroxyl radical, were unknown and crude air quality models incorporated only a few parameterized reactions obtained by fitting observations. Over the years, chemical mechanisms for air quality modeling improved and became more detailed as more experimental data and more powerful computers became available. However it will not be possible to incorporate a detailed treatment of the chemistry for all known chemical constituents because there are thousands of organic compounds emitted into the atmosphere. Some simplified method of treating atmospheric organic chemistry is required to make air quality modeling computationally possible. The majority of the significant differences between air quality mechanisms are due to the differing methods of treating this organic chemistry. The purpose of this review is to present an overview of atmospheric chemistry that is incorporated into air quality mechanisms and to suggest areas in which more research is needed.
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