Light-induced variation in environmentally persistent free radicals and the generation of reactive radical species in humic substances

Highlights

• Light irradiation increased the concentration of free radicals on HS.

• The increased spin densities on HS readily returned back to the original value.

• The “unstable” free radicals induced the formation of reactive radical species.

• Reactive radicals’ concentration correlated strongly with EPFRs’ concentration.

Abstract

Environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFRs) in humic substances play an essential role in soil geochemical processes. Light is known to induce EPFRs formation for dissolved organic matter in aquatic environments; however, the impacts of light irradiation on the variation of EPFRs in soil humic substances remain unclear. In this study, humic acid, fulvic acid, and humin were extracted from peat soil and then in situ irradiated using simulated sunlight. Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy results showed that with the increasing irradiation time, the spin densities and g-factors of humic substances rapidly increased during the initial 20 min and then gradually reached a plateau. After irradiation for 2h, the maximum spin density levels were up to 1.63 × 10¹⁷, 2.06 × 10¹⁷, and 1.77 × 10¹⁷ spins/g for the humic acid, fulvic acid, and humin, respectively. And the superoxide radicals increased to 1.05 × 10¹⁴–1.46 × 10¹⁴ spins/g while the alkyl radicals increased to 0.47 × 10¹⁴–1.76 × 10¹⁴ spins/g. The light-induced EPFRs were relatively unstable and readily returned back to their original state under dark and oxic conditions. Significant positive correlations were observed between the concentrations of EPFRs and reactive radical species (R² = 0.65–0.98, p<0.05), which suggested that the newly produced EPFRs contributed to the formation of reactive radical species. Our findings indicate that under the irradiation humic substances are likely to be more toxic and reactive in soil due to the formation of EPFRs.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Peat / Humic substances / Environmentally persistent free radicals / Light irradiation / Reactive radical species

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41877126), National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2018YFC1802004), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation funded project (No. 2019M650278), Shaanxi Key R&D Program of China (No. 2019ZDLNY01-02-01), and Shaanxi Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (Grant No. 2019JC-18).

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-020-1285-2 and is accessible for authorized users.

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