Abstract
Previous work suggests that polycarboxylic acids can be regarded as model compounds for soil fulvic acids and for water-soluble soil organic polymers. Curie-point pyrolysis—gas chromatography—mass spectrometry studies indicate that, on pyrolysis, polycarboxylic acids undergo fragmentation with cyclisation, elimination and decarboxylation reactions and yields two characteristic produces, 2-cyclopenten-1-one and 2,3-dimethylmaleic anhydride. The former is a characteristic pyrolysis product of solids and has been used in the assessment of humus type. Aromatic and phenolic products are also obtained in smaller amounts depending on the polymer molecular weight. Fulvic acids and water-extracted soil organic matter give similar pyrolysis products, together with those derived from polysaccharides and polypeptides. These results support the concept that natural soil organic polymers contain significant amounts of highly carboxylated chains.
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