A comparative structural study of nitrogen-rich fulvic acids from various Antarctic lakes

Abstract

Environmental contextFulvic acids are important naturally occurring organic materials, but unravelling their complex structures remains challenging. This paper suggests chemical analyses to facilitate structural studies of fulvic acids, and to investigate the similarities and differences of fulvic acids from various natural sources. AbstractWe comprehensively examined fulvic acids isolated from three lakes in Vestfold Hills, eastern Antarctica and microbial reference fulvic acid from Pony Lake located in western Antarctica. These fulvic acids were compared in terms of their structural similarities and differences by means of elemental analysis, cross polarisation magic-angle spinning (CP-MAS) 13C NMR spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) thermochemolysis coupled to gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The results indicate that these Antarctic fulvic acids show notable differences in chemical composition and structure; in particular XPS demonstrates that the distribution of nitrogen-containing compounds in the nitrogen-rich Antarctic fulvic acids differ significantly from each other. The dissimilarities are also highlighted in terms of quantity and quality of their nitrogenous constituents. For instance, Organic Lake Fulvic Acid (OLFA) contains around 10 times lower amide groups (pyrimidine–peptide N) than Pendant Lake Fulvic Acid (PNFA). It also shows 1.5 times less quaternary amine than Mossel Lake Fulvic Acid (MLFA) and PNFA. According to CP-MAS 13C NMR experiments the carbohydrate content in Vestfold Hills fulvic acid is higher than that of Pony Lake Fulvic Acid (PLFA), suggesting that dissolved organic matter (DOM) from Vestfold Hills Lakes is immature. TMAH–GC-MS demonstrated that Antarctic fulvic acids are enriched in heterocyclic non-aromatic nitrogen-containing components such as pyrimidine structures, with the exception of OLFA. Furthermore, tricyclic terpenoids (dehydroabietic acid) were detected in two out of four fulvic acids tabulated using TMAH–GC-MS. Although diterpenes are commonly associated with plants and fungi, their occurrence in Antarctic fulvic acids could be justified due to their diverse origins from cyanobacteria to aerosols.

Dissolved Organic Matter Processing in Pristine Antarctic Streams

“…Humic-like fluorescence is usually attributed to aromatic terrestrial OM such as partial degradation products of lignin and phenols . One possibility is that concentrations of the fluorescent constituents responsible for the humic-like fluorescence (moss-derived phenols or terrestrial OM from atmospheric deposition) were too low to be detected by NMR . However, increasing numbers of evidence point out that certain fluorescence components reoccur irrespective of the sample source. ,, The three photodegradable humic-like components in this study correspond to recently proposed three ubiquitous components. , Exudation by phytoplankton and bacteria , or physicochemical reactions such as cross-linking of lipid precursors in the presence of dissolved nitrogen can result in humic-like fluorescence, none of which is aromatic in nature.…”

Origin, distributions, and environmental significance of ubiquitous humic-like fluorophores in Antarctic lakes and streams

“…Due to the simplicity of the sources, the chemical characteristics of Antarctic lake DOM have been considered to vary little among Antarctic lakes (Aiken et al, 1996;McKnight et al, 1991). However, past studies were exclusively conducted in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of East Antarctica (Matsumoto, 1989;McKnight et al, 1994McKnight et al, , 1991, and very few biogeochemical studies on DOM chemistry have been conducted in other regions in Antarctica (Farzadnia et al, 2017).…”

“…Farzadnia, S., Nimmagadda, R.D., McRae, C., 2017. A comparative structural study of nitrogen-rich fulvic acids from various Antarctic lakes.…”

Lipid Biomarker and Stable Isotopic Profiles through Late Carboniferous–Early Triassic of the Deepest Well MS-1 in the Junggar Basin, Northwest China

“…The Pr/Ph values of the samples from the C 2 t, P 2 x, P 2 w, P 3 w, and T 1 b ranged from 0.29 to 0.67, 0.57 to 0.67, 0.49 to 0.83, 0.56 to 0.8, and 0.67 to 0.74 (Table 1 and Table S2, Figures 2-4). B-carotene is the most prominent compound in the carbon skeleton of carotenoids preserved in lakes and highly restricted marine environments, and its higher content indicates a higher reduction in waters [45,46]. B-carotene was detected in only a few samples from the C 2 t, with a highly variable content.…”