Uranium(VI) complexation with citric, humic and fulvic acids
The binding of uranium(VI) by Suwannee River humic and fulvic acids was studied at pH values of 4.0 and 5.0 in 0.10 M NaClOBoth humic and fulvic acids were demonstrated to strongly bind U(VI), with humic acid forming slightly stronger complexes and exhibiting greater pH dependence. Analyses of the data for the humic and fulvic acid systems using the Schubert´s equation previously applied to the citrate system result in an apparent nonintegral number of ligands binding the uranyl ion. Schubert´s method is only appropriate for interpreting mononuclear complexes with integral moles of binding ligands. Thus, a more elaborate binding model was required and the data were interpreted assuming either: (1) a mixture of 1:1 and 1:2 uranyl-ligand complexes or (2) a limited number of high affinity sites forming a 1:1 complex. While both of these modeling approaches are shown to provide excellent fits to the data, the second is deemed more appropriate given the large size of humic and fulvic acid molecules as well as previous results obtained with other metal cations, such as Cu(II).