Magnetic Resonance Studies of Intermolecular Interactions in Environmental Matrices

拟议的研究旨在满足从分子水平了解环境中污染物行为的需要，并将侧重于三个研究领域：㈠了解小型亲水有机化合物与环境基质结合的机制;天然有机物的超分子结构在陆地环境中发生非理想吸附行为方面所起的作用，包括污染物的保留和解吸;以及（iii）发展核磁共振的实际应用，作为探测环境中污染物行为的工具。 地球上超过30%的淡水用于农业、工业和家庭活动。这一重要的自然资源不断受到每年约3亿吨人为有机化学品的污染。拟议的研究的目标是发展和提高我们的理解的协会和化学污染物和土壤，沉积物和水生生态系统中的环境基质之间发生的相互作用。这些相互作用在控制污染物在环境中的行为方面发挥着重要作用，包括：持久性、自然衰减、迁移和环境可用性。在分子一级了解这些相互作用的性质被视为开发更准确的污染物归宿和接触模型的先决条件;为了开发更高效和有效的管理和补救受污染环境的做法，需要这种模型。由于环境基质的化学复杂性和物理异质性，阐明环境系统中的分子水平机制是困难的，因此对这些过程的充分理解取决于分子水平分析工具的可用性，这些工具可以克服这些挑战，以直接观察这些相互作用。核磁共振，这是唯一适合于复杂的非均质材料的分析，正在成为一个强大的分析工具，以解决需要在分子水平上了解污染物在环境中的行为。

The proposed research is designed to address the need for a molecular-level understanding of contaminant behaviour in the environment and will focus on three research areas: (i) understanding the mechanisms through which small hydrophilic organic compounds associate with environmental matrices; (ii) the role that the supramolecular structure of natural organic matter plays in the occurrence of non-ideal sorption behaviour in terrestrial environments, including the retention and desorption of contaminants; and, (iii) the development of practical applications of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) as a tool to probe contaminant behaviour in the environment. More than 30% of the Earth's accessible freshwater is used for agricultural, industrial, and domestic activities. This important natural resource is continuously at risk to contamination from an estimated flux of 300 million tons of anthropogenic organic chemicals per year. The goal of the proposed research is to develop and improve our understanding of the associations and interactions that occur between chemical contaminants and environmental matrices in soils, sediments, and aquatic ecosystems. These interactions play an important role in governing the behaviour of contaminants in the environment, including: persistence, natural attenuation, transport, and environmental availability. Understanding the nature of these interactions at the molecular-level is seen as a prerequisite for the development of more accurate models of contaminant fate and exposure; such models are needed in order to develop more efficient and effective practices to manage and remediate contaminated environments. Elucidating molecular-level mechanisms in environmental systems is difficult due to the chemically complex and physically heterogeneous nature of environmental matrices and as such a full understanding of these processes is dependent upon the availability of molecular-level analytical tools that can overcome these challenges in order to observe these interactions directly. NMR, which is uniquely suited for the analysis of complex heterogeneous materials, is emerging as a powerful analytical tool to address the need for a molecular-level understanding of contaminant behaviour in the environment.