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Characterising the interactions between Cu(II) and fulvic acid subcomponents using differential fluorescence spectroscopy combined with parallel factor analysis

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Abstract

Fulvic acid (FA) consists of various organic compounds that interact with metals in the aquatic environment. Interactions between subcomponents (FA3, FA5, FA7, FA9 and FA13) of FA and Cu(II) were investigated using fluorescence quenching titration by coupling differential fluorescence spectroscopy (DFS) and parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC). The material fluorescence intensities derived from FA subcomponents decreased with Cu(II) concentration increase, and stronger quenching was experienced at low Cu(II) concentrations. Humic-like materials of FA3 and protein-like materials of FA9 have relatively higher presence of carboxylic groups with greater molecular polarity, and preferential interaction of Cu(II) occurs. Fluorescence DFSs can be successfully broken down into five components as follows: fulvic-like components of a major compound containing carboxylic-like and phenolic-like groups, fulvic-like components of a major compound containing groups of other components, humic-like components of a major compound containing carboxylic-like and phenolic-like groups, humic-like components of a major compound containing carboxylic-like groups, and protein-like components. The fulvic-like components of a major compound containing carboxylic-like and phenolic-like groups exhibited stronger quenching with Cu(II) in five FA subcomponents. Static quenching is the dominant mechanism for the binding of Cu(II) by the FA subcomponent. The log K of quenching constants fitted using the modified Ryan–Weber equation (R2 = 0.9368–0.9985) ranged from 4.32 to 6.14 for five components derived from FA subcomponents. Subcomponents that were eluted earlier exhibited stronger binding affinity with Cu(II).

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Author contribution

Huang contributed to the conceptualisation, funding acquisition, and writing was a major contributor to writing the original draft. Zhang contributed to reviewing and editing the manuscript, and providing methodology. Zhao, Li, and Lu contributed to the data curation and experimental investigation. All of the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Funding

All data generated or analysed during this study are with the corresponding author, and, if necessary, he is available for taking any question about the datasets, and these can be requested by reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Science, Beijing, 10012, China

    Nannan Huang

  2. School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China

    Jin Zhang, Siyang Li & Zhen Lu

  3. School of Environmental and Safety Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou, 213164, China

    Chen Zhao

Authors
  1. Nannan Huang
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  2. Jin Zhang
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  3. Chen Zhao
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  4. Siyang Li
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  5. Zhen Lu
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Contributions

The present study was supported jointly through the Project funded by the Basic Research in Central Public Research Institutes (Grant number 2021YSKY-02).

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Correspondence to Jin Zhang.

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Highlights

• FA subcomponent stronger quenching was experienced at low Cu(II) concentration.

• All the fluorescence DFSs can be successfully decomposed into five components.

• Static quenching was dominant mechanism for binding of Cu(II) by FA subcomponents.

• Earlier eluting subcomponents exhibited a stronger binding affinity with Cu(II).

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Huang, N., Zhang, J., Zhao, C. et al. Characterising the interactions between Cu(II) and fulvic acid subcomponents using differential fluorescence spectroscopy combined with parallel factor analysis. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 88925–88937 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-22060-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-22060-6

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