Spectroscopic characterization of dissolved organic matter isolated from rainwater

Rainwater is a matrix containing extremely low concentrations (in the range of μM C) of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and for its characterization, an efficient extraction procedure is essential. A recently developed procedure based on adsorption onto XAD-8 and XAD-4 resins in series was used in this work for the extraction and isolation of rainwater dissolved organic matter (DOM). Prior to the isolation and fractionation of DOM, and to obtain sufficient mass for the spectroscopic analyses, individual rainwater samples were batched together according to similar meteorological conditions on a total of three composed samples. The results of the isolation procedure indicated that the resin tandem procedure is not applicable for rainwater DOM since the XAD-4 resin caused samples contamination. On the other hand, the XAD-8 resin allowed DOM recoveries of 39.9–50.5% of the DOC of the original combined samples. This recovered organic fraction was characterized by UV–visible, molecular fluorescence, FTIR-ATR and 1H NMR spectroscopies. The chemical characterization of the rainwater DOM showed that the three samples consist mostly of hydroxylated and carboxylic acids with a predominantly aliphatic character, containing a minor component of aromatic structures. The obtained results suggest that the DOM in rainwater, and consequently in the precursor atmospheric particles, may have a secondary origin via the oxidation of volatile organic compounds from different origins.