Abstract:
Humic substances (HS) are complex molecules characterized by high molecular weight and high chemical
heterogeneity. In order to have a deeper understanding of these molecules, there is need to synthesize humic
acids (HA) and fulvic acids (FA) with determined functional groups. In this paper we report a systematic study
on the synthesis of both HA and FA as a function of pH and nature of the functional groups. HA and FA with two
functional groups (phenolic and carboxylic) has been synthesized through polymerization of catechol and acetic
acid, calibrated by dialysis with membranes of 500, 1000 and 10000 MWCO (Molecular Weight Cut Off) and
characterized using two spectroscopic measurement techniques (ATR-FTIR and UV-Visible). Our synthesis
technique is inexpensive and simple to undertake. There is no saturation of the reaction medium with oxygen.
