CHED 833 |
| Matthew A. Dickerson and Kelly M. Elkins. |
| Humic substances are the organic material produced by the oxidative decomposition of complex organic molecules including carbohydrates, proteins, lignins, lignans, and fats from ground litter, roots, dead organisms and the excrements of living organisms by micro-organisms and other processes. Withing the complex humic group, fulvic acids are the lowest molecular weight substances with the highest oxygen content and are soluble over the entire pH range. These affect the pH of natural waters, trace metal aquatic chemistry and bioavailability, and the degradation and transport of hydrophobic organic molecules. Many metal ions, including Al(III), are becoming increasingly prevalent in the ‘free' (aquo) state in both fresh and sea waters, as a consequence of acid rain and other environmental processes. In this study, we have used fluorescence spectroscopy to probe the interaction of various comparative metals, including Al(III) and Ba(II), from the Nieboer and Richardson classification scheme using a fulvic acid standard sample isolated from the Suwannee River and purchased from the International Humic Substances Society to further investigate the formation of organo-metal complexes. |
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Undergraduate Research Poster Session: Environmental Chemistry
2:00 PM-4:00 PM, Monday, 27 March 2006 Georgia World Congress Center -- Ex. Hall B4, Poster
Division of Chemical Education |