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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1989

Application of a membrane model to the sorptive interactions of humic substances.

Humic substances, the dark-colored, natural organic polyelectrolytes that are found in practically all soils, sediments, and natural water, strongly interact with both inorganic and organic pollutants. Inorganic cationic species generally undergo complexation reactions with humic substances. The binding of cations, such as cupric ions, by humic substances often markedly reduces their toxicity to aquatic organisms. Some inorganic anionic species, in the presence of metal ions, are sorbed by humic substances. In these instances the metal ions appear to form bridges between the humic substances and the anions. Several different types of interactions take place between organic compounds and humic materials. Hydrophobic organic species partition into either insoluble or soluble humic substances. The insoluble humic substances will remove hydrophobic organic compounds from the aqueous phase, thereby rendering them less mobile. However, soluble humic substances will solubilize hydrophobic organics, increasing their mobility. Other types of interactions between humic substances and organic compounds, such as adsorption and ion exchange, also have been observed. These various interactions between humic substances and pollutants are important in governing their fate and movement in natural water systems, and, for this reason, a detailed understanding of the mechanisms of the interaction is important. A recently developed membrane model of the structure of humic substances is described; this model enables one to better understand the physical-chemical properties of these materials.

Adsorption↗
PubMed2004

Bioavailability of a nonylphenol isomer in dependence on the association to dissolved humic substances.

Humic substances are important environmental components since they represent a very large part of organic compounds on earth. According to many reports, dissolved humic substances are a determinant parameter for the bioavailability of xenobiotic compounds. For the present bioavailability studies, two kinds of dissolved humic substances, a commercially available humic acid and fulvic acids isolated from peat were used. As the relevant xenobiotic, a defined branched nonylphenol isomer, 4(3',5'-dimethyl-3'-heptyl)-phenol (p353NP) was synthesised according to Friedel-Crafts alkylation. Equilibrium dialysis studies were implemented in order to investigate the association between 14C-labelled p353NP and dissolved humic substances. The biodegradability in the presence of dissolved humic substances was examined in experiments with the nonylphenol degrading bacterium strain Sphingomonas TTNP3 and with p353NP as sole carbon source. The results showed that p353NP-humic acid associates were formed in high amounts, whereas no adducts with fulvic acids occurred. In the degradation studies with Sphingomonas TTNP3, no effects of dissolved humic substances on the bioavailability of p353NP could be observed. It was assumed that the association between nonylphenol and humic acids occurs rapidly and is reversible. Thus, the formation of "labile" complexes did not influence biodegradation rates, which were quite low.

Biological Availability↗
PubMed1992

Collagen stabilization induced by natural humic substances.

Humic substances are polyphenolic compounds. They have antiviral as well as desmutagenic effects and react with biopolymers such as collagen; thereby they have no toxic side effects by oral administration. In vitro incubation with humic substances raises the breaking point of the tail tendon of the rat by about 75%. The chemical resistance of the collagen fibres in tail tendon collagen is also increased by in vitro incubation with humic substances, at least insofar as the ultrastructurally and biophysically measurable destruction of the collagen fibres by 4 M guanidinium chloride is inhibited. As humic substances increase the mechanical and chemical resistance of collagen fibres and promote their "maturity", it seems likely that this effect of humic substances depends upon their interaction with the hydrogen bonding and covalent bonding of the collagen fibres. Such a conclusion is confirmed by the results of X-ray diffraction analysis.

Animals↗
PubMed2007

AhR-mediated and antiestrogenic activity of humic substances.

Humic substances (HS) were for decades regarded as inert in the ecosystems with respect to their possible toxicity. However, HS have been recently shown to elicit various adverse effects generally attributed to xenobiotics. In our study, we used MVLN and H4IIE-luc cell lines stably transfected with luciferase gene under control of estrogen receptor (ER) and Ah receptor (AhR; receptor connected with so-called dioxin-like toxicity) for assessment of anti/estrogenic and AhR-mediated effects of 12 commercially available humic substances. Out of those, five humic acids were shown to induce AhR-mediated activity with relative potencies related to TCDD 2.6 x 10(-8)-7.4 x 10(-8). Organic extracts of HS solutions also elicited high activities what means that lipophilic molecules are responsible for a great part of effect. However, relatively high activity remaining in extracted solution suggests also presence of polar AhR-agonists. Contribution of persistent organic compounds to the observed effects was ruled out by H(2)SO(4) treatment. Eight out of twelve HS elicited significant antiestrogenic effects with IC(50) ranging from 40 to 164 mg l(-1). The possible explanations of the antiestrogenic effect include sorption of 17-beta-estradiol (E2) on HS, changes in membrane permeability for E2 or another specific mechanism.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Cu(II) retention on a humic substance.

Humic substances (HS) are macromolecular products derived from a physical, chemical, and microbiological process called "humification." These substances play an important role in the mobility and bioavailability of nutrients and contaminants in the environment. Adsorption isotherms provide a macroscopic view of the retention phenomena. However, complementary techniques are needed in order to study the retention mechanism. The application of the classical models and some modern ones, based on humic substances chemistry, do not accurately describe these adsorption data. The aim of this paper is to model isotherms and combine adsorption data with spectroscopy and microscopy techniques to study the Cu(II) retention on a HS. The adsorption isotherms shape varies significantly with the solution pH from L-type (pH 2-6) to S-type (pH 8). FTIR shows that, when pH is 2 the retention of Cu(II), as [Cu(H(2)O)(6)](2+), is the preferred retention mechanism. The quantity of Cu(II) retained as [Cu(OH)(H(2)O)(6)](+) rises, as pH increases. At pH 4, Cu(II) begins to precipitate, which is the preferred mechanism at pH 8.02. The presence of HS has a great influence on the precipitation process of Cu(II), giving rise to amorphous precipitates. As it is shown by SEM-XRF, Cu(II) distributes heterogeneously on HS surface and accumulates on the humic phases. The presence of different anions (chloride and nitrate) slightly modifies the HS behavior as cation exchanger. When Cl(-) ions are present, part of the Cu(II) form [CuCl(4)](2-), which is stable in solution due to its negative charge; when the anion present is NO(3)(-) the formed complex, [CuNO(3)](+), is retained on the HS.

Adsorption↗
PubMed1992

Aldehydes as mutagens formed by ozonation of humic substances.

Humic substances and p-hydroxybenzaldehyde, one of their components, were ozonated and quantitative analysis of the mutagenic aldehydes (formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, glyoxal, glyoxylic acid and methylglyoxal) was performed. Glyoxal and glyoxylic acid were the main mutagenic compounds. The ozone-treated solutions were flowed through a granular activated carbon (GAC) column and the KMnO4 consumed of the effluent decreased to about 40-50%. Most of the aldehydes formed by ozonation reduced, but glyoxal increased.

Acetaldehyde↗
PubMed2002

Decarboxylation and alkaline colour fading reactions in presence of humic substances.

Humic substances (HSs) can substantially influence velocity of reactions in the environment as shown on example of decarboxylation and alkaline colour (e.g., malachite green and crystal violet) fading reactions. In colour fading and decarboxylation reactions of 6-nitrobenzisoxazole-3-carboxylic acid HS act as inhibitors, but additions of surfactants change the pattern of reaction. The inhibitory activity of HSs much depends on their origin. The velocity of studied reactions depends also on pH, temperature and concentration of HS used. Possible micellar catalysis mechanism has been suggested.

Carboxylic Acids↗
PubMed2004

Photogeneration of singlet oxygen by humic substances: comparison of humic substances of aquatic and terrestrial origin.

The singlet oxygen (1(O2)) luminescence of 27 isolated humic substances (HS), natural organic matter, ultrafiltrates, and the synthetic fulvic acid HS1500 has been investigated by time-resolved spectroscopy in buffered D(2)O. The samples include both reverse osmosis isolates from lakes in Scandinavia, Canada, and Germany, and IHSS fulvic and humic acids of aquatic and terrestrial origin. The quantum yields of 1(O2) formation (PhiDelta) obtained on laser excitation at 480 nm ranged between 0.06 (HS1500) and 2.7%(fulvic acid from soil, IHSS). In our study, a general trend towards higher PhiDelta in terrestrial HS was observed. The comparison of reverse osmosis isolates from surface waters collected during fall 1999 and spring 2000 from five Scandinavian sites yielded, in all cases, higher PhiDelta for the spring samples. For the aquatic sampling sites Hietajarvi and Birkenes, PhiDelta even exceeded values of 0.6%, which were found to be typical for terrestrial or soil water material. Investigation of the excitation wavelength dependence of PhiDelta in the spectral range 355-550 nm yielded different spectral shapes for aquatic HS and "non-aquatic" HS, respectively. On the basis of these excitation spectra, 1(O2) production rates were calculated for eight representative HS.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

The disruption of Daphnia magna sodium metabolism by humic substances: mechanism of action and effect of humic substance source.

Humic substances have important functions in aquatic systems. While these roles are primarily indirect, influencing the physicochemical environment, recent evidence suggests these materials may also have direct biological actions. This study investigated the mechanism by which humic substances perturb sodium metabolism in a freshwater invertebrate, the water flea Daphnia magna. Aldrich humic acid (AHA) stimulated the maximal rate of whole-body sodium influx (Jmax) when experimental pH was 6 and water calcium content was 0.5 mM. This effect persisted at pH 8 and 1 mM calcium but not at pH 8 in the absence of calcium. An indirect action of AHA on apical transporter activity was proposed to explain this effect. At pH 4 AHA promoted a linear sodium uptake kinetic relationship, attributed to altered membrane permeability due to enhanced membrane binding of humic substances at low pH. In contrast, a real-world natural organic matter sample had no consistent action on sodium influx, suggesting that impacts on sodium metabolism may be limited to commercially available humic materials. These findings question the applicability of commercially available humic substances for laboratory investigations and have significant implications for the study of environmental metal toxicity.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed2005

Hyphal growth and mycorrhiza formation by the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus claroideum BEG 23 is stimulated by humic substances.

Effects of humic substances (humic acid or fulvic soil extract) or saprophytic microorganisms (Paecilomyces lilacinus and an unidentified actinomycete) on growth of mycelium and mycorrhiza formation by Glomus claroideum BEG23 were studied in a hydroponic system. Humic substances stimulated root colonization and production of extraradical mycelium by the mycorrhizal fungus. Both humic and fulvic acids tended to decrease populations of culturable bacteria and fungi in the cultivation system, indicating a moderately antibiotic activity. The addition of saprophytic microorganisms able to use humic substances to the cultivation system further stimulated the development of the mycorrhizal fungus. However, stimulation of G. claroideum was also observed when the saprophytic microorganisms were heat-killed, suggesting that their effect was not linked to a specific action on humic substances. The results indicate that humic substances may represent a stimulatory component of the soil environment with respect to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed1996

Detection of glucosamine in the acid hydrolysis solution of humic substances.

Several humic substances isolated from water and soil have been characterized applying acid hydrolysis to release defined components bound in these high molecular organic compounds. The hydrolysis solution have been analyzed by HPLC after precolumn derivatization with o-phthalaldehyde and 9-fluorenylmethylchloroformate. Under these conditions the nitrogen containing carbohydrate glucosamine could be detected and separated besides seventeen amino acids. The results show that 8.0 to 40.1% of the total nitrogen content of the investigated samples contributes to amino acids and up to 7.9% to the carbohydrate glucosamine. It could be deduced that defined amino acid carbohydrate building blocks were bound in humic substances, because the glucosamine nitrogen content correlates with the calculated amino acid nitrogen. Furthermore the total amino acid nitrogen amount of natural organic matter can be estimated from the results of the determination of glucosamine.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

Novel stepwise gradient reversed-phase liquid chromatography separations of humic substances, air particulate humic-like substances and lignins.

RP-HPLC using stepwise gradients of dimethylformamide (DMF) in buffered aqueous mobile phase and a wide-pore (30 nm) octadecylsilica column has been applied to the analysis of soil, peat and air particulate humic and humic-like substances (HSs), as well as lignin, in order to demonstrate the usefulness of the approach for their characterization even at trace concentration level. Tandem combination of spectrophotometric (DAD) and fluorimetric detection was used to get more detailed information on chromatographic behaviour of HSs. The results showed that ten-step gradient can induce distinct features of HSs and lignins. Combination of very good DMF solvating and disaggregating properties for HSs and lignins together with wide pore RP sorbent improves surface interactions of the analytes and suppresses influence of size exclusion effects. Thus it provides reproducibility of characterisation profiles and robustness of the method. Very good reproducibility of retention times (from +/-0.12 to +/-0.36% RSD), of peaks enforced by the step gradient shape supports well defined characterization and/or fractionation of HSs. Evaluated limit of quantitation (S/N = 10) of selected soil humic acid working standard using fluorimetric detection (ex.470 nm/em.530 nm) was 9.7 microg/ml. This corresponds to 0.5 microg of the humic acid per injection. Calculated limit of detection (S/N = 3) was 3.3 microg/ml, what corresponds to 0.15 microg of the humic acid per injection and enabled determination of 0.1% (m/m) humic-like substances in 20 mg of air particulates under defined rules and conditions.

Air↗
PubMed2003

Binding of mercury(II) to aquatic humic substances: influence of pH and source of humic substances.

Conditional distribution coefficients (K(DOM')) for Hg(II) binding to seven dissolved organic matter (DOM) isolates were measured at environmentally relevant ratios of Hg(II) to DOM. The results show that K(DOM') values for different types of samples (humic acids, fulvic acids, hydrophobic acids) isolated from diverse aquatic environments were all within 1 order of magnitude (10(22.5 +/-1.0)-10(23.5 +/- 1.0)) L kg(-1)), suggesting similar Hg(ll) binding environments, presumably involving thiol groups, for the different isolates. K(DOM') values decreased at low pHs (4) compared to values at pH 7, indicating proton competition for the strong Hg(II) binding sites. Chemical modeling of Hg(II)-DOM binding at different pH values was consistent with bidentate binding of Hg(II) by one thiol group (pK(a) = 10.3) and one other group (pK(a) = 6.3) in the DOM, which is in agreement with recent results on the structure of Hg(II)-DOM bonds obtained by extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (EXAFS).

Environmental Monitoring↗
PubMed2002

Characterization of high molecular weight disinfection byproducts resulting from chlorination of aquatic humic substances.

Aquatic humic substances react with chlorine to produce numerous disinfection byproducts (DBPs) during chlorination of drinking water. Although low molecular weight (MW) chlorinated DBPs have been intensively studied over the past several decades, relatively little is known about high MW chlorinated DBPs (above 500 Da) that may be associated with adverse health implications. In this work, carrier-free radioactive 36Cl was introduced into a Suwannee River fulvic acid sample to label the chlorine-containing DBPs. By combining the fractionation techniques of ultrafiltration (UF) and size exclusion chromatography (SEC) with the detection of 36Cl, UV, and dissolved organic carbon (DOC), the high MW region in the SEC-36Cl profiles of the chlorinated sample with and without UF was defined. SEC-UV and SEC-DOC profiles were found to be approximately indicative of SEC-36Cl profiles for the high MW region. The MW distribution shows that the high MW chlorinated DBPs were highly dispersed with an average MW around 2000 Da based on calibration with polystyrene sulfonate standards. The Cl/C atomic ratios of the high MW DBPs were roughly constant (0.025), which is much lower than those of the common known chlorinated DBPs.

Chlorine Compounds↗
PubMed2004

Influence of humic substance adsorptive fractionation on pyrene partitioning to dissolved and mineral-associated humic substances.

Changes in pyrene binding by dissolved and mineral-associated humic substances (HS) due to HS adsorptive fractionation processes were examined in model environmental systems using purified Aldrich humic acid (PAHA) and Suwannee River fulvic acid (SRFA). For PAHA, carbon-normalized pyrene binding coefficients for nonadsorbed, residual fractions (Koc(res)) were different from the original dissolved PAHA Koc value (Koc(orig)) prior to contact with the mineral suspensions. A strong positive correlation between pyrene log Koc(res) and log weight-average molecular weight (MWw) for residual PAHA fractions was observed, which was relatively independent of the specific mineral adsorbent used and hypothesized fractionation processes. A strong positive correlation between log Koc(ads) and log MWw was also found for PAHA fractions adsorbed to kaolinite at low mass fraction organic carbon levels, although the relationship was statistically different from the one found with residual PAHA fractions. The same trends and correlations found for PAHA were not observed with SRFA, suggesting that the impacts of HS adsorptive fractionation on changes in hydrophobic organic contaminants binding are also influenced by the source and other biogeochemical characteristics of HS.

Adsorption↗
PubMed1985

Mutagenicity of chlorinated products from soil humic substances.

Soil humic substances were chlorinated in solution, extracted with ether and subjected to mutagenicity assay. Mutagenicity was detected using Salmonella typhimurium TA 100, with or without S9 mix; mutagenic activity was found to be less with added S9 mix. Ether extracts were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and various chlorinated and non-chlorinated compounds were detected, e.g. chlorinated esters, acetones and carboxylic acids, as well as non-chlorinated aromatics. The mutagenicity of the major chlorination products was examined. Chloral and 1,1,1,3,3-pentachloro-2-propanone (pentachloroacetone) were found to be mutagenic, and 1,1-dichloro-2-propanone (1,1-dichloroacetone) was a possible mutagen. The yields of these mutagens increased with an increase in chlorine concentration.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Synthesis and physico-chemical properties of peptides in soil humic substances.

Soil humic substances (HS) are heterologous, polydispersive, and multi-functional organometallic macromolecules ubiquitous in soils and sediments. They are key players in the maintenance of the belowground ecosystems and in the bioavailability of both organic and inorganic contaminants. It is widely assumed that the peptidic substructures of HS are readily degraded and therefore do not contribute significantly to interactions with contaminants such as toxic metals. To investigate the turnover of humified peptides, laboratory soil aging experiments were conducted with 13C-glucose or 15N-nitrate for 8.5 months. Evidence for random-coil peptidic structures in the labeled HS was obtained from 2-D nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), pyrolysis gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (pyro-GC-MS), and circular dichroism data. Interaction of metals with the peptidic carbonyls of labeled HS was rationalized from the solid-state NMR data. Detailed 13C and 15N labeling patterns of amino acid residues in the acid hydrolysates of HS acquired from NMR and GC-MS revealed two pools of peptides, i.e. one extant (unlabeled) and the other, newly humified with little isotopic scrambling (fully labeled). The persistence of pre-existing peptidic structures indicates their resistance to degradation while the presence of fully labeled peptidic amino acids suggests wholesale incorporation of newly synthesized peptides into HS. These findings are contrary to the general notion that humified peptides are readily degraded.

Carbon Isotopes↗