Fulvic acids functional group analysis

A problem for both humic- and yellow substances is that for these groups of experimentally defined components of different sources, each analysis will be ambiguous in terms of relative composition and molecular weight distribution. Additionally it appears that almost every scientist working in this field has developed his own extraction procedure (Weber and Wilson, 1975 Mantoura and Riley, 1975 a Schnitzer, 1976 Stuermer and Harvey, 1977). Different extraction times and -procedures result in different compositions of the organic constituents (Laane and Kramer, 1984). Soil humic-and fulvic acids, often used for studies on the interaction with trace elements, and those derived from water have certainly not the same composition and contain not the same distribution of functional groups. Therefore, results should be compared with care (Buffle, 1980 Buffle et al., 1984). 

Table Vn. Concentrations (in meq/g) of oxygen-containing functional groups in fulvic and humic acids from stream and foam samples from Como Creek and the Suwannee River, using a combination of C NMR data, elemental analysis, and potentiometric titration data.

---