Comparative Studies on Sorption Recovery and Molecular Selectivity of Bondesil PPL versus Bond Elut PPL Sorbents with Regard to Fulvic Acids

Large scale isolation—in gram quantities—of dissolved organic matter (DOM) from natural waters is necessary for detailed investigation of its role in chemical and microbial processes driving carbon cycling under conditions of global climate change. The best candidate for a use in these large-scale experiments is a bulk sorbent Bondesil PPL, which has the same modification as the widely used Bond Elut PPL sorbent. There have been no studies so far reported on interchangeability of these sorbents with regard to DOM isolation. This work was devoted to comparative studies on sorption efficiency and molecular selectivity of these two sorbents—Bond Elut PPL and Bondesil PPL with regard to DOM components. Fulvic acids (FA) from peat water leachate were used as a model DOM. Laboratory solid phase extraction (SPE) setup was used for monitoring sorption recovery and extraction yield. It included three parallel experiments on pre-packed Bond Elut PPL cartridges (500 mg/3 mL) and three self-packed Bondesil PPL cartridges (500 mg/3 mL). Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT ICR MS) and 13C/1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy were used for determination of molecular and structural group compositions of the FA isolates obtained with a use of two different sorbents. The results of this study allowed a conclusion on interchangeability of the two sorbents used in this study for the purposes of DOM isolation from natural waters. This conclusion was backed up by similarity of sorption behavior of the peat FA components on both sorbents and by high similarity of molecular compositions and carbon distribution among the main structural groups.