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Zn-Dust Distillation and Fusion of a Soil Humic and Fulvic Acid¹

ABSTRACT

A humic and a fulvic acid extracted from a Podzol Bh horizon were subjected to Zn-dust distillation and fusion. The reaction products were first purified by vacuum-sublimation and then separated by a combination of preparative thin-layer chromatography on silica gel and on cellulose. Identification of each fraction was performed by ultraviolet spectroscopy and spectrophotofluorometry. The main products were polysubstituted naphthalene, substituted phenanthrene, and substituted and unsubstituted anthracene, pyrene and perylene. In addition, small amounts of the following polycyclic hydrocarbons were also identified: fluoranthene, 1,2-benzofluorene, 2,3-benzofluorene, 1,2-benanthracene, 1,2-benzopyrene, 3,4-benzopyrene and naphtho-(2',3':1,2)-pyrene. Semi-quantitative yields for individual polycyclic hydrocarbons were estimated. Our results point to the occurrence in the "nuclei" of soil humic compounds of significant amounts of polycyclic aromatic ring structures or structures yielding such systems under the experimental conditions employed.

¹ Contribution no. 273. Soil Research Institute, Canada Department of Agriculture, Ottawa, Ontario.

² Postdoctorate Fellow of the National Research Council and Senior Research Scientist, respectively. The authors thank J. D. Jones for providing the spectrophotofluorometer and J. G. Desjardins for extraction of soil organic matter.

Received for publication May 17, 1968. Accepted for publication August 15, 1968.