Spectroscopic studies of the interactions of organic and inorganic solutes with natural organic matter

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) strongly influences the speciation of a number of natural and anthropogenic solutes in natural waters. Luminescence spectroscopy is an analytical technique which has seen increased applications in investigations of the binding of organic (1,2) and inorganic (3) solutes by DOM. The hypersensitive fluorescence transition of Eu{sup 3+} has been exploited to study the effect of solution pH on metal binding to Suwannee River fulvic acid (4). The present paper will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these techniques and suggest the potential for their use in future studies of solute interactions with DOM.