The Case Against Charge Transfer Interactions in Dissolved Organic Matter Photophysics

Open access
Author
Show all
Date
2018-01-16Type
- Journal Article
Citations
Cited 51 times in
Web of Science
Cited 52 times in
Scopus
ETH Bibliography
yes
Altmetrics
Abstract
The optical properties of dissolved organic matter influence chemical and biological processes in all aquatic ecosystems. Dissolved organic matter optical properties have been attributed to a charge-transfer model in which donor–acceptor complexes play a primary role. This model was evaluated by measuring the absorbance and fluorescence response of organic matter isolates to changes in solvent temperature, viscosity, and polarity, which affect the position and intensity of spectra for known donor–acceptor complexes of organic molecules. Absorbance and fluorescence spectral shape were largely unaffected by these changes, indicating that the distribution of absorbing and emitting species was unchanged. Overall, these results call into question the wide applicability of the charge-transfer model for explaining organic matter optical properties and suggest that future research should explore other models for dissolved organic matter photophysics. Show more
Permanent link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000236024Publication status
publishedExternal links
Journal / series
Environmental Science & TechnologyVolume
Pages / Article No.
Publisher
American Chemical SocietyOrganisational unit
03850 - McNeill, Kristopher / McNeill, Kristopher
Related publications and datasets
Is referenced by: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/265151
More
Show all metadata
Citations
Cited 51 times in
Web of Science
Cited 52 times in
Scopus
ETH Bibliography
yes
Altmetrics