Role of Lignin in formation of a Significant Fraction of Dissolved Organic Matter in Natural Waters
Abstract
To evaluate the fate of lignin-like molecules influenced by oxidative degradation in natural waters, we subjected a well-known oxidative degradation product of lignin, catechol, to hydroxyl radical (•OH) produced by ozonation. Multidimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry results show that catechol is drastically transformed to a variety of different molecules including phenolic compounds, olefins, polyols (sugar-like alcohols), and carboxyl-rich alicyclic molecules (CRAM). This suggests that lignin can potentially form new molecules that are not traditionally recognized as being derived from lignin and can play a much more important role in the global production of DOM in natural waters than previously thought. These molecules specifically include polyols, considered to be carbohydrates, and CRAM, considered in numerous previous studies to be bacterially produced.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFM.B43G2562K
- Keywords:
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- 0414 Biogeochemical cycles;
- processes;
- and modeling;
- BIOGEOSCIENCES;
- 0432 Contaminant and organic biogeochemistry;
- BIOGEOSCIENCES;
- 0442 Estuarine and nearshore processes;
- BIOGEOSCIENCES;
- 0452 Instruments and techniques;
- BIOGEOSCIENCES