Organic Compounds Formed by the Hydrogen Peroxide Xidation of Soils

Two samples taken from tropical volcanic surface soils and one sample from a Canadian Podzol subsurface soil were oxidized with H2O2 under conditions usually employed for the removal of organic matter from soils prior to mineralogical analyses. Between 65 and 82% of the C but only between 23 and 36% of the N in the initial organic matter in the three soils was oxidized to volatile and water-soluble products. Among the latter, small amounts of about 40 different aliphatic and aromatic compounds were identified, most of which were phenolic. Extraction with organic solvents removed n-alkanes and n-fatty acids from H2O2-resistant organic matter, but most of the latter consisted of humic substances strongly bonded to or absorbed on inorganic soil constituents. H2O2-resistant fractions accounted in the case of two soils, initially rich in organic matter, for 12.0 and 7.5% of the air-dry weights of peroxidized soils. The presence of such substantial amounts of H2O2-resistant organic matter may interfere with the dispersion and mineralogical analysis of peroxidized soils, especially those with high initial organic matter contents.