title: Strong colloidal and dissolved organic ligands binding copper and zinc in rivers.
abstract: The speciation or physicochemical form of copper and zinc in freshwater plays an important role in reactivity, bioavailability, and toxicity. Strong metal-binding ligands, which determine speciation, were detected by voltammetric methods, both anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV) and competitive ligand equilibration adsorptive stripping voltammetry (CLE-AdSV); the latter technique can detect nanomolar levels of extremely strong (log K' > 13) ligands. Through careful field site selection and the investigation of ultrafiltration permeate samples, natural organic ligands were measured with limited interferences of colloidal inorganic iron- and aluminum-based trace metal-binding phases. Furthermore, ultrafiltration allowed measurement of colloidal and dissolved ligands independently, and differences of ligand abundance and strength in different size classes are reported. For copper, ultrafilterable (<3 kDa) organic ligand site concentrations (expressed normalized to dissolved organic carbon) were on average 33% of the colloidal level, but ultrafilterable ligand log K' values were 0.5 log units stronger than those of the 0.4 microm filterable concentration. The ultrafilterable copper-binding ligand concentration showed a smaller variation across the rivers (25% rsd) than zinc-binding ligands (90% rsd). For all field sites and size fractions, strong ligand sites greatly exceeded metal concentrations; subsequently, equilibrium speciation modeling predict picomolar levels of free metal. Modeling also indicated that the very strong ligands (detected by CLE-AdSV) predominate, so modeling based solely on ASV data in freshwater may be inadequate. Competition experiments indicated that the very strong ligand sites are metal specific for copper and zinc.
authors.affiliation: Environmental Chemistry and Technology Program, University of Wisconsin, 660 North Park Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA. shoffman@iwu.edu
authors.forename: Stephen R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.forename: Martin M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Shafer
authors.forename: David E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Armstrong
mesh_terms: D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry*; D003300:Copper / Q000737:chemistry*; D005618:Fresh Water; D008024:Ligands; D009994:Osmolar Concentration; D012995:Solubility; D015032:Zinc / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D003102:Colloids; D008024:Ligands; D003300:Copper; D015032:Zinc