Humic acid is one of the major components of organic matter in soil and plays an important role in the transport and fate of environmental contaminants. Its role is attributed to its bulk chemical characteristics as well as to its structural organization. The architecture of humic acid is investigated by using deuterated palmitic acid as a molecular probe. Preliminary IR and thermal analysis data suggests the occurrence of a phase transition in the palmitic acid from the solid phase to a liquid-ordered phase upon interaction with humic acid. To more systematically account for changes in the phase of the palmitic acid, a method was developed and tested using model compounds such as solution of a synthetic surfactant above the critical micellar concentration, and a protein solution of 1M β-lactoglobulin. The model compound solutions were allowed to interact with a film of palmitic acid and the complexes formed were analyzed by IR spectroscopy. The shape and location of the absorbance bands of the complexes are compared to those of pure deuterated palmitic acid.

Investigating the structure of humic acid using a molecular probe

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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