TY - JOUR
T1 - Chemistry of natural organic matter — The next step
T2 - Commentary on a humic substances debate
AU - Myneni, Satish Chandra Babu
N1 - Funding Information:
The author would like to thank his current and former group members, colleagues, and collaborators studying NOM for their seminal contributions and for making both molecular and field studies on NOM very exciting. This author is supported by the NSF (Chemical Sciences and Earth Sciences programs) while preparing this manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.
PY - 2019/3/1
Y1 - 2019/3/1
N2 - Natural organic matter (NOM) is ubiquitous on the Earth surface and influences every biogeochemical reaction wherever it is present, and its impact on reactions varies with its abundance, structure, and chemistry. Because of decades of field and laboratory studies conducted on NOM in different environments, we are moving away from treating it as a black box to developing molecular structure–based approaches in investigations of soil, sediment, and aquatic systems and are beginning to make major advances in the detailed understanding of the molecular and structural characteristics of NOM, which in turn are helping in deciphering the biochemical processes involved in its evolution in the environment. Yet, many questions remain: How does NOM exist in different soil and aquatic environments? How should we obtain NOM from a sample, and does the isolated NOM represent the NOM in a sample? Do the geochemical reactions explored with extracted NOM represent the reality? How can we study NOM in situ? Here I present a synopsis of critical perspectives on the state of NOM research and a commentary on the reviews and debate presented in this special section on the NOM nomenclature, extraction procedures, and studies involving NOM in different environmental processes.
AB - Natural organic matter (NOM) is ubiquitous on the Earth surface and influences every biogeochemical reaction wherever it is present, and its impact on reactions varies with its abundance, structure, and chemistry. Because of decades of field and laboratory studies conducted on NOM in different environments, we are moving away from treating it as a black box to developing molecular structure–based approaches in investigations of soil, sediment, and aquatic systems and are beginning to make major advances in the detailed understanding of the molecular and structural characteristics of NOM, which in turn are helping in deciphering the biochemical processes involved in its evolution in the environment. Yet, many questions remain: How does NOM exist in different soil and aquatic environments? How should we obtain NOM from a sample, and does the isolated NOM represent the NOM in a sample? Do the geochemical reactions explored with extracted NOM represent the reality? How can we study NOM in situ? Here I present a synopsis of critical perspectives on the state of NOM research and a commentary on the reviews and debate presented in this special section on the NOM nomenclature, extraction procedures, and studies involving NOM in different environmental processes.
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U2 - 10.2134/jeq2019.02.0002c
DO - 10.2134/jeq2019.02.0002c
M3 - Article
C2 - 30951138
AN - SCOPUS:85063774800
SN - 0047-2425
VL - 48
SP - 233
EP - 235
JO - Journal of Environmental Quality
JF - Journal of Environmental Quality
IS - 2
ER -