Fractionation and molecular organization of humic acids

Humic acids are part of the natural organic matter occurring all around us. The aim of this thesis is to study the molecular organization, conformation of humic acids in aqueous solutions, that always raise a number of questions. For a long time, the scientists all over the world argue, if humic acid are polymers, micelles or supramolecules. Over time, thanks to new technologies, their opinions are moving away from a polymer model and tend rather to supramolecular arrangement of humic acids. Studying humic complex systems is not easy, because they are polydisperse and heterogeneous, which significantly complicates any characterization. Moreover, its molecular organization is affected by many factors such as e.g. pH, ionic strength and etc. For the study of the conformation of humic acids, concentration series of IHSS (International humic substances asociation) Leonardite humic acids stamdards in four different mediums were prepared: 0,1 M NaOH, humic acids in water with pH modified to 12 (basic medium), 0,1 M NaOH + 0,1 M HCl, 0,1 M NaCl (neutral environment). Furthermore it has been performed the fractionation of humic acids for the purpose of simplifying the complicated structure. Prepared concentration series were characterized with several analytical methods such as ultraviolet and visible spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, electrophoretic light scattering, microrheology, gel permeation chromatography, potentiometric pH determination and direct conductometry. Diploma thesis is built on the previous bachelor thesis in which different sample of humic acids was studied. The measured results indicate that the studied systems show supramolecular behavior and in some cases are subject to aggregation into larger units (micelles)