Fulvic molecular weight

Many fluids of natural origin contain detectable quantities of high molecular weight organic anions, such as those from humic, fulvic, and tannic acids, which can be carried to and deposited on AX membranes. Such deposits can behave as thin films partially selective to cations (6). The iaterfaces between such films and the undedyiag AX membranes then act as very thin stagnant depletion compartments and the AX membranes may exhibit polarization at current densities that are much lower than would be expected for new membranes ia the abseace of such anioas. 

About half of the dissolved organic carbon may appear in humic or fulvic acids. These are high-molecular weight organic compounds of a composition which is somewhat uncertain. They contain aromatic hydroxyl and carboxyl groups which have the ability to bind to metal ions. Rivers and estuaries typically contain 10 mg/liter of acid with an exchange capacity of 5-10 mmol/g, mainly due to carboxylic... 

Acidolysis is a similar weathering reaction to hydrolysis in that is used to weather minerals, but in this case the source of is not water but organic or inorganic acids. Humic and fulvic acids (discussed in Section 8.3.2), carbonic acid, nitric or sulfuric acid, and low-molecular-weight organic acids such as oxalic acid can all provide H to weather minerals. All of these acids occur naturally in soils in addition nitric and sulfuric acid can be added to soil by acid pollution. The organic acids are prevalent in the... 

ATPase and specific modification of root cell membrane permeability directly mediated by low-molecular-weight (<5000 Da) fulvic acid-like compounds deriving from native soil organic matter (54-56) (see also Chap. 5). 

Since lignins are polymers of phenolics and are major plant constituents with resistance to microbial decomposition, they are the primary source of phenolic units for humic acid synthesis (178, 179). Once transformed, these humic acids become further resistant to microbial attack and can become bound to soils (180) form interactions with other high molecular weight phenolic compounds (ex. lignins, fulvic acids) and with clays (181) and influence the biodegradation of other organic substrates in soils (182, 183). 

Beckett, R., Jue, Z. and Giddings, J. C. (1987). Determination of molecular weight distributions of fulvic and humic acids using flow field-flow fractionation, Environ. Sci. Technol., 21, 289-295. 

Hayase [6] applied reverse phase liquid chromatography to the examination of molecular weight fractionated sedimentary fulvic acid. 

Hayase [7] measured the fluorescence and absorption spectra of humic acid and fulvic acid in sediment collected from Tokyo Bay, at 20°C and pH8. The maximal excitation and emission wavelengths for humic acid were longer than those for fulvic acid, independent of molecular weight,... 

The Hayase procedure [6] discussed in section 10.1.1.2 has also been applied to marine sediments. Sedimentary fulvic acid exhibited increasing hydrophilic character with increasing molecular weight. The method used was effective for hydrophobichydrophilic characterization of humic substances. 

The humates present in soil are polyelectrolytes and bear some similarity to polyacrylic acid and polymethacrylic acid (49, 50). The molecular weight distribution for the humates is considerable fulvic acid fractions of 1,000 daltons have been isolated (51) while humic acid molecular weights obtained by gel chromatography are in the range 17,000 to 100,000 daltons according to the type of soil from which it was extracted (52). However, ultracentrifugation analysis indicates a molecular range of 2,000 to 1,500,000 daltons for humic acids (55). 

In spite of this variation in molecular weights and solubilities humic acid and fulvic acid have a very similar chemical composition. These acids consist of aromatic moieties such as phenols, benzenepolycarboxylic acids, hydroxybenzenepolycarbo-xylic acids, 1,2-dihydroxybenzene carboxylic acids, together with more complex condensed structures and polycylic compounds. It is conjectured that these various units are joined together by aliphatic chains (45, 54) the distribution of functional groups is presented in Table 5. 

Dahlman O, Reimann A, Ljungquist P, Morck R, Johansson C, Boren H, Grimvall A (1994) Characterization of Chlorinated Aromatic Structures in High Molecular Weight BKME-Materials and in Fulvic Acids from Industrially Unpolluted Waters. Wat Sci Tech 29 81... 

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). 

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