On-line coupling of size exclusion chromatography with electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry for the analysis of aquatic fulvic and humic acids

A method was developed for the analysis of humic and fulvic acids by size-exclusion chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry using a completely volatile eluent. Humic and fulvic acids were separated into three peaks. These fractions occupied different mass ranges and showed differences in the fine structure of their mass spectra. The low-molecular-weight (LMW) fraction of fulvic acids is most sensitively determined by ESI-MS, and it appears that previous results obtained by infusion-ESI-MS were primarily determined by this fulvic acid fraction. The average molecular weight of this fractions turned out to be lower than that reported from infusion-ESI-MS measurements. Its scan spectra and the product ion spectra of some of its molecular anions perfectly match those previously obtained from whole fulvic acid mixtures. Obviously, a class of well-defined polycarboxylated molecules exist that occurs in all fulvic acid fractions thus far investigated. With decreasing elution time and increasing molecular weight, detection by ESI-MS loses sensitivity as compared to the parallel UV recording, and the fine structure of the scan spectra becomes increasingly uniform for both fulvic and humic acids. The average molecular weight of the HMW fraction exceeds those values calculated from infusion experiments. Scan spectra and product ion spectra of the high-molecular-weight (HMW) fraction of both the humic and the fulvic acids suggest that the HMW fraction consists of several subunits that originate from the LMW fraction.