Characterizing Properties and Environmental Behaviors of Dissolved Organic Matter Using Two-Dimensional Correlation Spectroscopic Analysis

• Published in: Environmental science & technology Vol. 53; no. 9; pp. 4683 - 4694
• Main Authors: Chen, Wei, Teng, Chun-Ying, Qian, Chen, Yu, Han-Qing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 07.05.2019
• Subjects: Correlation analysis; Dissolved organic matter; Environmental behavior; Environmental cleanup; Environmental Restoration and Remediation; Fluorescence; Humic Substances; Infrared analysis; Infrared signatures; Infrared spectra; pollutants; Pollution control; Properties (attributes); Raman spectra; Raman spectroscopy; remediation; spectral analysis; Spectral resolution; Spectrometry, Fluorescence; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; Spectrum analysis; State-of-the-art reviews; Two dimensional analysis; ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy; Water treatment
• ISSN: 0013-936X; 1520-5851; 1520-5851
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.9b01103

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) exists ubiquitously in environments and plays critical roles in pollutant mitigation, transformation, and organic geochemical cycling. Understanding its properties and environmental behaviors is critically important to develop water treatment processes and environmental remediation strategies. Generalized two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2DCOS), which has numerous advantages, including enhancing spectral resolution and discerning specific order of structural change under an external perturbation, could be used as a powerful tool to interpret a wide range of spectroscopic signatures relating to DOM. A suite of spectroscopic signatures, such as UV–vis, fluorescence, infrared, and Raman spectra that can be analyzed by 2DCOS, is able to provide additional structural information hiding behind the conventional one-dimensional spectra. In this article, the most recent advances in 2DCOS applications for analyzing DOM-related environmental processes are reviewed, and the state-of-the-art novel spectroscopic techniques in 2DCOS are highlighted. Furthermore, the main limitations and requirements of current approaches for exploring DOM-related environmental processes and how these limitations and drawbacks can be addressed are explored. Finally, suggestions and new approaches are proposed to significantly advance the development of 2DCOS in analyzing the properties and behaviors of DOM in natural and engineered environments.