title: Dissociation properties of laurentide fulvic acid: Identifying the predominant acidic sites.
abstract: Application of the unified physicochemical approach to the description of the dissociation properties of Laurentide fulvic acid, extracted from peat, has shown that five predominant acidic moieties may account for the observed potentiometric titrations in aqueous medium. Information from non-aqueous titrations and titrations in presence of excess metal ions, e.g. Cu(2+) and Eu(3+), has shown that three of the acidic moieties are carboxylic in nature while the other two are of alcoholic nature. A comprehensive description of the dissociation properties of natural organic acids, as ligands, is advocated as a pre-requisite step towards understanding their interaction with metal ions in the environment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Zimbabwe, P.O. Box MP 167, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe.
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Mathuthu
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Marinsky
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Ephraim