The determination of polysaccharides in fulvic acids by pyrolysis gas chromatography

9 pages, 4 fgiures, 3 tables, 25 references.Pyrolysis gas chromatography is used to show that fulvic acids isolated from a variety of soils contain polysaccharides. Acetaldehyde, furan, methylfuran and furfural are the major products of pyrolysis at 700º C and they are demonstrably derived from the carbohydrate moieties. Although different purification processes have not entirely eliminated all impurities from the fulvic acids it has nevertheless been possible to determine their polysaccharide contents quantitatively. It should be noted that the pyrolysis residues still contain the najority of the nitrogen present in the original sample.Peer reviewe