Spectroscopic approaches to the study of the interaction of aluminum with humic substances

Aluminum ion (Al3+) in the 'free' (aquo) state is becoming increasingly prevalent in environmental waters, especially fresh waters, as a consequence of acid rain and other environmental processes. As Al3+ ion is known to affect markedly a wide range of biological systems, and since the presence of Al3+ in humans has been linked to a number of human diseases, it is important to understand the speciation of Al3+ ion in natural waters. Since some of the most important complexation agents for Al3+ in both fresh and sea waters are members of the complex humic substances group, it is important to understand the manner in which Al3+ interacts with this class of molecules, especially since binding of Al3+ to these molecules can effectively increase the bioavailability of this toxic metal ion to biological systems. The objective of this review is to present the current state of our understanding of aqueous aluminum complexation with the most acidic members (and therefore the most likely candidates for serving as Al3+ complexing agents) of the humic substances group, the fulvic acids. Much of the current knowledge has been revealed by comprehensive fluorescence titration analyses. Some additional information has come from other experimental approaches, including infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and a variety of electrochemical approaches. In this review, we also report on the results of our recent fluorescence and IR spectroscopy survey of the interaction of metals from of all three Nieboer and Richardson categories of environmental metals (Class A, Class B and Intermediate Class) with the fulvic acid sub-group of the humic substances. This has proven helpful in understanding some of the unique spectral behaviors of the Al3+-fulvic acid complex vis-a-vis fulvic acid complexes with many other metal ions. The results of our fluorescence and IR experiments with the model compounds, such as salicylic and phthalic acids, have allowed confirmation of the important roles played by both salicylic acid-Eke sites and phthalic acid-like sites in the unique complexation of Al3+ to humic substances, and help to explain some of the observed spectroscopic changes associated with Al3+ ion complexation to humic material. From the current work, it seems clear that major sources of the deviation in spectral properties between Al3+ and many other metal ions (across all three Nieboer and Richardson categories) are the unusually high value of its charge density and relatively low propensity for involvement in covalent bonding interactions (i.e. a very high ionic index combined with a relatively low covalent index in the Nieboer and Richardson classification of environmental metals), as well as affinity for certain functional groups. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.