Abstract: New particle formation is an important source of atmospheric aerosols and cloud condensation nuclei, which can indirectly affect global climate, air quality, ecosystem and human health. However, there are still certain limitaions in the current research and understanding of new particle formation mechanisms, especially in the understanding of key precursor species that may participate in and promote nucleation. Organic amines are abundant in the atmosphere with complex structures. As common organic bases with unique ability of acid-base neutralization, they have always attracted much attention. In view of the crucial role of organic amines in the formation of new particles, the research progress on the mechanism of organic amines promoting the formation of new particles from is reviewed in three perspectives: laboratory simulations, field observations and model calculations. Both laboratory studies and field observations have confirmed the existence of sulfuric acid-organic amine molecular clusters, and organic amines promote atmospheric nucleation more effective than ammonia at the same concentration. The model calculations also show that organic amines are more likely to react with sulfuric acid to form more stable hydrogen bond molecular clusters, thereby overcoming the free energy nucleation barrier and promoting the formation of new particles. Finally,the important role of amines in the formation of new particles is summarized, and a prospect for the future research on new particle formation is given.

Key words: new particle formation, organic amine, mechanism of nucleation, cluster