The role of the characteristics of humic substances in binding with benzo[h]quinoline

Ping‐Chieh Hsieh, Peter Brimblecombe, Chon-Lin Lee, Shih-Han Hsu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The binding constants (K-DOC) of the mixture of benzo[h]quinoline and its protonated analog, benzo[h]quinolinium, to four types of humic substances obtained from the International Humic Substances Society were determined by the fluorescence quenching method. A simple mixing model was used to eliminate the fluorescent interference from the minor analog in the solution and to deduce K-mix, which represents the overall binding as the sum of that for the individual analogs. The characteristics of humic substances, especially their hydrophobicity and aromaticity, established by principal component analysis of structural and elemental compositions, were the main determinants of the binding affinity with both benzo[h]quinoline and benzo[h]quinolinium (K-BQ and K-BQH(+) across a range of pH values. The strongest overall affinity of benzo[h]quinoline for humic substances is observed near pH 4 and with more hydrophobic humic substances, which suggests possible choices in attempts at remediation of benzo[h]quinoline containing particles with humic substances
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)246-252
Number of pages7
JournalEnvironmental Toxicology and Chemistry
Volume31
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2012

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