Chemical communication is ubiquitous in insects and plants life, but complete understanding of the paths taken by chemicals to explain the performance of these systems is not achieved. Critical gaps exist in the understanding of the physico-chemistry of these chemicals for their transport in the near-ground atmosphere. We proposed that some of them form films on aerosol surface and get transported as clusters. Therefore, aerosols could carry chemical signals over long distances.

    In this talk, we will show that mesoscale modelling tells that the kinetic of this adsorption process is sufficiently fast to occur during the atmospheric transport of the pheromones.  To assess this mechanism, identification of molecular candidates and model interface leading to high enough adsorption Gibbs energy is necessary. We will further present molecular dynamics simulations that enable to compare, at the microscale, the film formation and 2D phase state of an iconic pheromone (bombykol) and three of its derivatives on pure water.  These results, and their multiscale integration, help us to gain insights in the processes that play a role in pheromonal communication of insects and illustrates the importance of physico-chemistry in environmental science.