Stoichiometry between humate unit molecules and metal ions in supramolecular assembly induced by Cu and Tb measured by gel electrophoresis techniques

Nakano, Sumika*; Marumo, Kazuki*; Kazami, Rintaro*; Saito, Takumi*; Haraga, Tomoko   ; Tasaki-Handa, Yuiko*; Saito, Shingo*

Humic acid (HA) can strongly complex with metal ions to form a supramolecular assembly via coordination binding. However, determining the supramolecular size distribution and stoichiometry between small HA unit molecules constituting HA supramolecule and metal ions has proven to be challenging. Here, we investigated the changes in the size distributions of HAs induced by Cu and Tb ions using a unique polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) for the separation and quantification of HA complexes and metal ions bound, followed by UV-Vis spectroscopy and EEM-PARAFAC. It was found that the supramolecular behaviors of Cu and Tb complexes with HA collected from peat and deep groundwater (HHA) differed. Our results suggest that this supramolecular stoichiometry is related to the abundance of sulfur atoms in the elemental composition of HHA. Our results provide new insights into HA supramolecules formed via metal complexation.