Molecular weight of aquatic fulvic acids by vapor pressure osmometry

The molecular weights of aquatic fulvic acids extracted from five rivers were determined by vapor pressure osmometry with water and tetrahydrofuran as solvents. The values obtained ranged from 500 to 950 dallons, indicating that the molecular weights of aquatic fulvic acids are not as great as has been suggested in some other molecular weight studies. The samples were shown to be relatively monodisperse from radii of gyration measurements determined by small angle x-ray scattering. THF affords greater precision and accuracy than H₂O in VPO measurements, and was found to be a suitable solvent for the determination of molecular weight of aquatic fulvic acid because it obviates the dissociation problem. An inverse correlation was observed with these samples between the concentration of Ca⁺⁺ and Mg⁺⁺ in the river water and the radii of gyration and molecular weights of the corresponding fulvic acid samples.