Title: The investigation of compositional and structural characteristics of natural marine organic matter: a review

Authors: Mauro Mecozzi, Marco Pietroletti, Marcelo Enrique Conti

Addresses: Istituto Centrale per la Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica Applicata al Mare, Via di Casalotti 300, 00166 Rome, Italy. ' Istituto Centrale per la Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica Applicata al Mare, Via di Casalotti 300, 00166 Rome, Italy. ' SPES – Development Studies Research Centre, Universita di Roma 'La Sapienza', Via del Castro Laurenziano 9, 00161 Rome, Italy

Abstract: The natural marine Organic Matter (OM) is a complex mixture of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins present in seawater and sediments, able to affect many processes occurring in the marine environment such as the biochemical cycles of marine nutrients and living organisms. As the complexity of environmental studies concerning OM composition requires the application of accurate analytical methods, the aim of this review is the discussion of the most used and updated methods for OM characterisation, including all the analytical steps from sample preparation to the final instrumental analysis by means of spectroscopic and chromatographic techniques. Recent developments on the structural characteristics of OM are also reported.

Keywords: marine organic matter; extraction; purification; spectroscopic methods; chromatographic methods; carbohydrates; lipids; proteins; seawater; sediments; organic matter characterisation; organic matter composition; organic matter structure.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2008.018416

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2008 Vol.32 No.4, pp.527 - 549

Published online: 21 May 2008 *

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