Spontaneous assembly of marine dissolved organic matter into polymer gels
Spontaneous assembly of marine dissolved organic matter into polymer gels
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DOI：
10.1038/35345
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发表时间：
1998-02-05
期刊：
影响因子：
64.8
通讯作者：
Verdugo, P
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Chin, WC;Orellana, MV;Verdugo, P
大量的有机碳以溶解有机物（DOM）的形式存在于世界海洋中（1,2）。DOM在操作上被定义为通过具有给定孔径（范围从小于0.1 μ m到0.46 μ m）的过滤器的有机物的部分。与颗粒有机物质（POM）相比，这种组分在海洋中停留的时间更长，而且通常难以生物降解（1-4）。因此，将DOM转化为POM的过程对于我们理解海洋中有机物的循环至关重要（1-4）。海洋胶体占DOM的10-40%(2,3,5)，其聚集被认为是DOM向POM转化的重要步骤(3)。有人认为，胶体，以及透明的外聚合物颗粒和大聚集体（“海洋雪”）可以被视为聚合物凝胶（6-8）。然而，自由DOM聚合物是否真的可以自发组装形成聚合物凝胶还没有得到证实。在这里，我们提出了实验观察，证明海洋聚合物凝胶可以由自由DOM聚合物组装而成，并且可以从聚合物凝胶理论的角度来理解其形成机制、物理特性和矿化（9-11）。因此，聚合物凝胶物理学的原理和方法有可能为控制DOM和POM池之间的交换以及海洋有机物循环的过程提供深刻的新见解。
A large pool of organic carbon resides in the world's oceans in the form of dissolved organic matter (DOM)(1,2). DOM is operationally defined as the fraction of organic matter that passes through a filter with a given pore size (which can range from less than 0.1 mu m to 0.46 mu m). This fraction has a longer oceanic residence time-and is generally less biodegradable-than particulate organic matter (POM)(1-4). Processes transforming DOM into POM are therefore crucial for our understanding of the cycling of organic material in the oceans(1-4). The aggregation of marine colloids, which constitute 10-40% of DOM(2,3,5), is thought to be an important step in the transformation of DOM into POM(3). it has been suggested that colloids, as well as transparent exopolymer particles and large aggregates ('marine snow') can be viewed as polymer gels(6-8). Whether free DOM polymers can indeed spontaneously assemble to form polymer gels has, however, not yet been shown, Here we present experimental observations that demonstrate that marine polymer gels can assemble from free DOM polymers, and that their formation mechanism, physical characteristics and mineralization can be understood in terms of polymer gel theory(9-11). The principles and methods of polymer gel physics thus have the potential to provide profound new insights into the processes controlling-the exchange between the DOM and POM pools and the cycling of marine organic matter.