Downloaded by 175.12.155.210 on August 24, 2015 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date: November 14, 1996 | doi: 10.1021/bk-1996-0651.pr001
Preface H u M I C A N D F U L V I C ACIDS, along with other organic colloidal materials, are fascinating substances that can have profound environmental consequences. Their abilities to complex radionuclides and toxic metals have been recognized for some time by researchers interested in the migration and mobilization of nuclear and industrial waste at contaminated sites. The micellar properties of humic and fulvic acids also give them the ability to play important roles in the solubilization and transport of hydrophobic pollutants. Most of the studies of these naturally occurring organic colloids have been reported in symposia that focused on the contaminants. At the 210th ACS National Meeting held in August 1995 in Chicago, Illinois, a symposium was held on recent studies of humic-fulvic acids and organic colloidal materials in the environment. This symposium brought together researchers from the United States, France, Germany, and England who have been using a wide variety of techniques to characterize the structures and determine the chemical properties and physical roles that humic and fulvic acids play in the environment, particularly in surface and groundwaters. This book is the result of that symposium, which attempted to bring direct attention to humic-fulvic acids and organic colloidal substances. Numerous advances in analytical methods and separation techniques have enabled researchers interested in humic and fulvic acids to begin to chemically characterize these complex molecular mixtures. These methods have also allowed the interactions of humic and fulvic acids with metals and with organic pollutants in the environment to be explored. We believe that the reader will be intrigued by the wide diversity of the research results presented here and the potential environmental significance of these naturally occurring organic colloidal compounds. Clearly, the environmental chemistry and physics of humic and fulvic acids must be better understood if we are to develop safe and sound waste-storage and contaminated-site-cleanup strategies. We thank the authors for their contributions to this volume, which represents some of the recent advances in obtaining that understanding. Special thanks are expressed to Dale Perry of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for suggesting the humic-fulvic acid symposium and
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encouraging the publication of this ACS Symposium Series Book, and to Mary M. Cunningham for her help in completing this volume. JEFFREY S. GAFFNEY NANCY A. MARLEY
Environmental Research Division Argonne National Laboratory Building 203, 9700 Cass Avenue Argonne, IL 60439
Downloaded by 175.12.155.210 on August 24, 2015 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date: November 14, 1996 | doi: 10.1021/bk-1996-0651.pr001
SUE B. CLARK
Department of Chemistry Washington State University P.O. Box 644630 Pullman, WA 99164-4630 August 7, 1996
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