Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) is becoming an important tool in the study of natural organic matter (NOM) at the molecular level. Ultrahigh-resolution ESI-MS analyses of NOM often produce very complicated spectra; therefore, visual presentation and structural interpretations of the spectra are difficult. To meet this analytical challenge, we herein propose and demonstrate an approach using the van Krevelen diagram. With this approach, complicated mass spectra can be visualized in a way that allows for (1) possible reaction pathways to be identified and presented, and (2) qualitative analyses on major classes of compounds that comprise ultrahigh-resolution spectra. The qualitative analyses are in a good agreement with results obtained from analyses by other analytical techniques. Additionally, the van Krevelen diagram can be expanded to a 3D plot by using peak intensities or relative intensities as the z-axis. The 3D van Krevelen diagram allows for an evaluation of the relative significance of structurally related compounds. The 3D plot can also be a useful tool for compositional differentiation among samples.

Congo River water was filtered and then irradiated for 57 d in a solar simulator, resulting in extensive photodegradation of dissolved organic matter (DOM). Whole‐water (i.e., unfractionated) DOM was analyzed pre‐ and post‐irradiation using ultrahigh resolution Fourier transform ion cyclotron mass spectrometry (FT‐ICR MS), revealing the following three pools of DOM classified based upon their photoreactivity: (1) photo‐resistant, (2) photo‐labile, and (3) photo‐produced. Photo‐resistant DOM was heterogeneous, with most molecular classes represented, although only a small number of aromatics and no condensed aromatics were identified. The photoproduced pool was dominated by aliphatic compounds, although it included a small number of aromatics, including condensed aromatics. Aromatic compounds were the most photoreactive, with > 90% being lost upon irradiation. Photochemistry also resulted in a significant drop in the number of molecules identified and a decrease in their structural diversity. The FT‐ICR MS signatures of two classes of refractory organic matter, black carbon and carboxylic‐rich alicyclic molecules (CRAM), were present in the sample prior to irradiation, indicating that the Congo River could be a significant exporter of recalcitrant DOM to the ocean. All black carbon‐like molecules identified in the initial sample were lost during irradiation. Molecular signatures consistent with CRAM were also highly photo‐labile, demonstrating that environmental solar irradiation levels are capable of removing these refractory compounds from aquatic systems. Irradiation also shifted the molecular signature of terrestrial DOM toward that of marine DOM, thereby complicating the task of tracking terrestrial DOM in the ocean.

[1] Black carbon (BC), the product of incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass (called elemental carbon (EC) in atmospheric sciences), was quantified in 12 different materials by 17 laboratories from different disciplines, using seven different methods. The materials were divided into three classes: (1) potentially interfering materials, (2) laboratory-produced BC-rich materials, and (3) BC-containing environmental matrices (from soil, water, sediment, and atmosphere). This is the first comprehensive intercomparison of this type (multimethod, multilab, and multisample), focusing mainly on methods used for soil and sediment BC studies. Results for the potentially interfering materials (which by definition contained no fire-derived organic carbon) highlighted situations where individual methods may overestimate BC concentrations. Results for the BC-rich materials (one soot and two chars) showed that some of the methods identified

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is the largest reservoir of reduced carbon in the oceans. The nature of DOM is poorly understood, in part, because it has been difficult to isolate sufficient amounts of representative material for analysis. Tangential-flow ultrafiltration was shown to recover milligram amounts of >1000 daltons of DOM from seawater collected at three depths in the North Pacific Ocean. These isolates represented 22 to 33 percent of the total DOM and included essentially all colloidal material. The elemental, carbohydrate, and carbon-type (by (13)C nuclear magnetic resonance) compositions of the isolates indicated that the relative abundance of polysaccharides was high ( approximately 50 percent) in surface water and decreased to approximately 25 percent in deeper samples. Polysaccharides thus appear to be more abundant and reactive components of seawater DOM than has been recognized.

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