Evaluation of sampling and sample preparation procedures for the determination of aromatic acids and their distribution in a podzol soil using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

• In this work the distribution of free and weekly adsorbed aromatic acids (phthalic acid and ten phenolicacids; gallic, p-hydroxybenzoic, salicylic, vanillic, protocatechuic, p-coumaric, syringic, sinapic, ferulic and caffeicacid), which could participate in weathering and soil formation processes, were studied for O, E and Bhorizons in a podzol soil in central Sweden. For the analysis a simple and rapid quantitative and qualitative liquidchromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method (using gradient elution) was developed with LODs rangingfrom 5 to 25 nM. Different soil solution sampling techniques (tension-lysimeter and soil centrifugation) and soilextraction with either 10 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.2) or 50:50 (v/v) 10 mM phosphate buffer:MeOHwere compared. All eleven acids were found in detectable or trace concentrations. The most abundant aromaticacids were vanillic and phthalic acid with concentrations around 1 μM for O and E horizon respectively.Lysimeter samples resulted in the lowest concentrations followed by centrifugation samples. Ingeneral, buffer:MeOH extraction resulted in the highest concentrations for the O horizon, likely due toMeOH's ability to compete for hydrophobic sites on soil organic matter (SOM). Then again, pure bufferwith its higher ion strength, interfering with the acids electrostatic interactions with clay particles, leads tohigher extracted concentrations for the E and B horizons. Since the efficiency of the extraction solutions, to alarge extent, depends on the sample properties, a general approach is hard to appoint. However, the extractionof substituted cinnamic acids is in general facilitated by adding MeOH to the extraction solution. The use of statisticalmethods for the evaluation of the results showed a large and significant difference in aromatic acid concentrationsreceived using different sampling techniques and sample preparations. In fact, sampling methodsresulted in higher variations in aromatic acid concentrations than sampled horizon.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Kemi -- Analytisk kemi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Chemical Sciences -- Analytical Chemistry (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

phenolic acids

phthalic acid

soil extraction

soil centrifugation

tension-lysimeter

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