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Cation-π interactions were systematically investigated for the adsorption of H+ and alkali metal cations M+ to pyrene by means of Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) and density functional theory (DFT). The main aims were to determine the preferred adsorption sites and how the microhydration shell influences the adsorption process. The preferred adsorption sites were characterized in terms of structural parameters and energetic stability. Stability analysis of the M+-pyrene complexes revealed that the binding strength and the barrier to transitions between neighboring sites generally decreased with increasing cation size from Li+ to Cs+. Such transitions were practically barrierless (<<1 kcal/mol) for the large Rb+ and Cs+ ions. Further, the influence of the first hydration shell on the adsorption behavior was investigated for Li+ and K+ as representatives of small and large (alkali metal) cations, respectively. While the isolated complexes possessed only one minimum, two minima-corresponding to an inner and an outer complex-were observed for microhydrated complexes. The small Li+ ion formed a stable hydration shell and preferentially interacted with water rather than pyrene. In contrast, K+ favored cation-π over cation-water interactions. It was found that the mechanism for complex formation depends on the balance between cation-π interactions, cation-water complexation, and the hydrogen bonding of water to the π-system.

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Humic substances are ubiquitous in the environment and have manifold functions. While their composition is well known, information on the chemical structure and three-dimensional conformation is scarce. Here we describe the Vienna Soil-Organic-Matter Modeler, which is an online tool to generate condensed phase computer models of humic substances (http://somm.boku.ac.at). Many different models can be created that reflect the diversity in composition and conformations of the constituting molecules. To exemplify the modeler, 18 different models are generated based on two experimentally determined compositions, to explicitly study the effect of varying e.g. the amount of water molecules in the models or the pH. Molecular dynamics simulations were performed on the models, which were subsequently analyzed in terms of structure, interactions and dynamics, linking macroscopic observables to the microscopic composition of the systems. We are convinced that this new tool opens the way for a wide range of in silico studies on soil organic matter.

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The translocation of antiparasitic drugs from animal excrement through soil and water to crops and forages and their recycling to food-producing animals is a potential concern with respect to the contamination of the food chain. To facilitate the investigation of this problem, an LC-MS/MS method for selected anthelmintics in soil and water was developed. The soil sample preparation involved a simple solvent extraction and dispersive clean-up technique. The method was validated at 10, 20 and 40 µg kg(-1) for levamisole, fenbendazole, fenbendazole sulphoxide and fenbendazole sulphone and at 20, 40 and 80 µg kg(-1) for eprinomectin. LOQs were 10 µg kg(-1) for the first four compounds and 20 µg kg(-1) for eprinomectin. The overall mean recoveries ranged from 76.1% to 89% for loamy soils and from 79.9% to 96.9% for sandy soils. Analysis of water samples was performed by extraction/concentration on an Oasis-HLB (Aschaffenburg, Germany) cartridge. Validation was performed at 0.25, 0.5 and 1.0 µg l(-1). The LOQ for all compounds was 0.25 µg l(-1). Method recovery (and RSD) varied between 35.4% (28) for eprinomectin and 125.1% (16) for fenbendazole sulphone. The validated methods were applied to soil and water samples in a study on the behaviour of anthelmintic drugs in a soil-plant-water system (manuscript on "transport investigation of antiparasitic drugs based on a lysimeter experiment" in preparation).

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The thermodynamic stability of the acetic acid dimer conformers in microhydrated environments and in aqueous solution was studied by means of molecular dynamics simulations using the density functional based tight binding (DFTB) method. To confirm the reliability of this method for the system studied, density functional theory (DFT) and second order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) calculations were performed for comparison. Classical optimized potentials for liquid simulations (OPLS) force field dynamics was used as well. One focus of this work was laid on the study of the capabilities of water molecules to break the hydrogen bonds of the acetic acid dimer. The barrier for insertion of one water molecule into the most stable cyclic dimer is found to lie between 3.25 and 4.8 kcal mol(-1) for the quantum mechanical methods, but only at 1.2 kcal mol(-1) for OPLS. Starting from different acetic acid dimer structures optimized in gas phase, DFTB dynamics simulations give a different picture of the stability in the microhydrated environment (4 to 12 water molecules) as compared to aqueous solution. In the former case all conformers are converted to the hydrated cyclic dimer, which remains stable over the entire simulation time of 1 ns. These results demonstrate that the considered microhydrated environment is not sufficient to dissociate the acetic acid dimer. In aqueous solution, however, the DFTB dynamics shows dissociation of all dimer structures (or processes leading thereto) starting after about 50 ps, demonstrating the capability of the water environment to break up the relatively strong hydrogen bridges. The OPLS dynamics in the aqueous environment shows--in contrast to the DFTB results--immediate dissociation, but a similar long-term behavior.

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PURPOSE: The sorption behavior of the herbicide 4-chloro-2-methylphenoxyacetic acid (MCPA) to three different artificial soil mixtures was investigated. Artificial soils serve as model systems for improving understanding of sorption phenomena. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The soils consisted of quartz, ferrihydrite, illite, montmorillonite, and charcoal. In a previous study, several selected mixtures had been inoculated with organic matter, and microbial aging (incubation) had been performed for different periods of time (3, 12, and 18 months) before conducting the sorption experiments. The effect of this pre-incubation time on the sorption behavior was determined. Interaction of MCPA with soil surfaces was monitored by aqueous phase sorption experiments, using high-performance liquid chromatography/ultraviolet and in selected cases Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The sorption behavior showed large differences between differently aged soils; Freundlich and linear sorption model fits (with sorption constants Kf , 1/n exponents, and Kd values, respectively) were given for pH = 3 and the unbuffered pH of ∼7. The largest extent of sorption from diluted solutions was found on the surfaces with a pre-incubation time of 3 months. Sorption increased at acidic pH values. CONCLUSIONS: Regarding the influence of aging of artificial soils, the following conclusions were drawn: young artificial soils exhibit stronger sorption at lower concentrations, with a larger Kf value than aged soils. A correlation with organic carbon content was not confirmed. Thus, the sorption characteristics of the soils are more influenced by the aging of the organic carbon than by the organic carbon content itself.

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Knowledge about the stabilization of organic matter input to soil is essential for understanding the influence of different agricultural practices on turnover characteristics in agricultural soil systems. In this study, soil samples from a long-term field experiment were separated into silt- and clay-sized particles. In 1967, 14C labeled farmyard manure was applied to three different cropping systems: crop rotation, monoculture and permanent bare fallow. Humic acids (HAs) were extracted from silt- and clay-sized fractions and characterized using photometry, mid-infrared and fluorescence spectroscopy. Remaining 14C was determined in size fractions as well as in their extracted HAs. Yields of carbon and remaining 14C in HAs from silt-sized particles and Corg in clay-sized particles decreased significantly in the order: crop rotation > monoculture â‰« bare fallow. Thus, crop rotation not only had the largest overall C-pool in the experiment, but it also best stabilized the added manure. Mid-infrared spectroscopy could distinguish between HAs from different particle size soil fractions. With spectroscopic methods significant differences between the cropping systems were detectable in fewer cases compared to quantitative results of HAs (yields, 14C, Corg and Nt). The trends, however, pointed towards increased humification of HAs from bare fallow systems compared to crop rotation and monoculture as well as of HAs from clay-sized particles compared to silt-sized particles. Our study clearly shows that the largest differences were observed between bare fallow on one hand and monoculture and crop rotation on the other.

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The stabilizing effect of water molecule bridges on polar regions in humic substances (HSs) has been investigated by means of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The purpose of these investigations was to show the effect of water molecular bridges (WAMB) for cross-linking distant locations of hydrophilic groups. For this purpose, a tetramer of undecanoid fatty acids connected to a network of water molecules has been constructed, which serve as a model for spatially fixed aliphatic chains in HSs terminated by a polar (carboxyl) group. The effect of environmental polarity has been investigated by using solvents of low and medium polarity in force-field MD. A nonpolar environment simulated by n-hexane was chosen to mimic the stability of WAMB in a hydrophilic hotspot surrounded by a nonpolar environment, while the more polar acetonitrile environment was chosen to simulate a more even distribution of polarity around the carboxylic groups and the water molecules. The dynamics simulations show that the rigidity of the oligomer chains is significantly enhanced as soon as the water cluster is large enough to comprise all four carboxyl groups. Increasing the temperature leads to evaporization processes which destabilize the rigidity of the tetramer-water cluster. Embedding it into the nonpolar environment introduces a pronounced cage effect which significantly impedes removal of water molecules from the cluster region. On the other hand, a polar environment facilitates their diffusion from the polar region. One important consequence of these simulations is that although the local water network is the stabilizing factor for the organic matter matrix, the degree of stabilization is additionally affected by the presence of nonpolar surroundings.

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The thermodynamic properties of a selected set of benchmark hydrogen-bonded systems (acetic acid dimer and the complexes of acetic acid with acetamide and methanol) was studied with the goal of obtaining detailed information on solvent effects on the hydrogen-bonded interactions using water, chloroform, and n-heptane as representatives for a wide range in the dielectric constant. Solvent effects were investigated using both explicit and implicit solvation models. For the explicit description of the solvent, molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations in the isothermal-isobaric (NpT) ensemble combined with the free energy perturbation technique were performed to determine solvation free energies. Within the implicit solvation approach, the polarizable continuum model and the conductor-like screening model were applied. Combination of gas phase results with the results obtained from the different solvation models through an appropriate thermodynamic cycle allows estimation of complexation free energies, enthalpies, and the respective entropic contributions in solution. Owing to the strong solvation effects of water the cyclic acetic acid dimer is not stable in aqueous solution. In less polar solvents the double hydrogen bond structure of the acetic acid dimer remains stable. This finding is in agreement with previous theoretical and experimental results. A similar trend as for the acetic acid dimer is also observed for the acetamide complex. The methanol complex was found to be thermodynamically unstable in gas phase as well as in any of the three solvents.

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A systematic DFT study of interactions between a set of mono- and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and the (110) goethite surface have been performed in this work. It was found that PAHs form relatively weak surface complexes having their molecular plane practically parallel to the surface plane. The origin of the interactions is in the polarization of the pi-system by polar OH groups and in the formation of weak hydrogen bonds where the pi-system acts as a proton acceptor. The computed perpendicular distances of the molecular plane of PAHs to the hydrogen atoms of the surface OH groups range from 2.3 to 2.7 A. Computed interaction energies regularly increase for the linearly shaped molecules from benzene to anthracene. Two other PAHs with a nonlinear shape, phenanthrene and pyrene, are less strongly bound to the surface although they have a similar (phenanthrene) or even larger size (pyrene) than anthracene. These differences were explained by the specific configuration of the surface hydroxyl groups of goethite. The three types of OH groups, mu-OH, mu(3)-O(II)H, and OH, form a valley, the width of it fits very well the molecular shape of the linear PAHs. It was found that with anthracene as example the linear PAHs can easily slide along the valley of OH groups with practically no barrier. In summary it is concluded from our results that the (110) goethite surface will withhold linear PAHs significantly better than nonlinear ones.

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The present paper describes changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) and extractable humic acids (HAs) in a long-term field experiment with different tillage treatments (minimum tillage (MT), reduced tillage (RT) and conventional tillage (CT)). This field experiment is located in the east of Vienna in a Pannonian climate and it was started in 1988. The methodological approach included elemental analyses, FT-IR, 13C NMR and fluorimetric measurements. Both MT and RT revealed significant depth gradients of yields of extractable HAs. In CT no depth gradient was observable, neither for HA yields nor for observed molecular characteristics. This indicated a destruction of the gradient by mixing of the soil in CT. Especially MT showed an increase of aromatic moieties with depth, suggesting an increased humification of HAs in the lower soil layers. Gradients with similar trends were indicated for the carbonylic, the amidic and probably the hydroxylic groups in HAs extracted from MT and RT samples. The data revealed with FT-IR and solid-state 13C NMR spectroscopy were convincing, plausible and meaningful, the highly sensitive fluorescence spectroscopy was limited because of strong quenching by inner filter effects, compromising data reliability. However, the fluorescence results based on a defined HAs concentration (and comparing soils from the same site) were in line with results from the other methods (13C NMR and FT-IR). As a consequence, the influence of tillage treatments can be followed by absence or presence of depth gradients of the according molecular characteristics in extracted HAs.

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2'-O-Aminohexyl side chains provide excellent conditions for zwitterionic interstrand and intrastrand interactions of oligonucleotides. 2'-O-Aminoalkylated phosphoramidites of adenosine and uridine were synthesized and incorporated in increasing number into homo adenosine and homo uridine/thymidine dodecamers, respectively. CD spectra of these dodecamers with complementary sense DNA exhibited a B-DNA type structure. While duplex stability values of all tested oligonucleotides were lower than those of the native oligonucleotides, they were significantly higher than those of 2'-O-heptyl modified oligonucleotides. The destabilization amounted to 0.9, 1.5, and 2.7 degrees C per modification for 2'-O-aminohexyl adenosine, 2'-O-aminohexyl uridine, and 2'-O-heptyl adenosine substitutions. These findings are pointing to a duplex stabilizing effect of the interaction of side chain amino groups with backbone phosphoric acid.

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The influence of long-term farming practices on the soil's behaviour to adsorb hydrophobic organic compounds (HOCs) over long times was investigated. Adsorption of five naphthalene derivatives (naphthalene, 1-naphthol, 1-naphthylamine, 1-hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid, 1,4-naphthoquinone) was examined on soils with varying amounts and origins of soil organic matter obtained after amendment with different organic materials over more than 40 years. Soil organic matter, pore sizes and aggregate stability were significantly altered influencing the adsorption behaviour of the soils. Samples of soil amended with peat having an organic carbon content of 3.4% sorbed naphthalene derivatives stronger than the soil treated with sewage sludge (2.6% C(org)). All other treatments, calcium nitrate, plots without nitrogen fertilizers, grassland, animal manure, green manure and the fallowed soil sorbed less and no significant difference was found between them although the organic carbon content ranged from 1.0% to 2.6%. Thus, a decrease of the carbon content of a soil does not necessarily imply a reduction of sorption capacities for hydrophobic compounds such as naphthalene derivatives. Furthermore, the importance of protonation of HOCs for the adsorption on soil surfaces was shown. Different polarities of electronic structures of HOCs distinctly influence their adsorption behaviour.

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The stable isotope ratios (delta13C, delta15N, and delta34S of casein and delta13C and delta18O of glycerol) measured by IRMS of French, Italian, and Spanish cheeses are presented and discussed. Variability factors such as animal-feeding regimen, geographical origin, and climatic and seasonal conditions were studied to check the possibilities of cheese characterization offered by each isotopic parameter. Delta13C values of both casein and glycerol appeared to be strongly correlated to the amount of maize in the animal diet. Delta15N and delta34S of casein proved to be mostly influenced by the geoclimatic conditions of the area (aridity, closeness to the sea, altitude). Delta18O of glycerol was more dependent on the geographical origin of the cheeses and on climatic/seasonal parameters. By applying a multivariate stepwise canonical discriminant analysis, good discrimination possibilities for the different European cheeses were obtained, confirmed by the classification analysis, when >90% of the samples were correctly reclassified.

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Hydrogen-bonded interactions between local defect structures on broken clay surfaces modeled as molecular clusters and the organic molecules acetic acid, acetate, and N-methylacetamide (NMA) have been investigated. Density functional theory and polarized basis sets have been used for the computation of optimized interaction complexes and formation energies. The activity of the defect structures has been characterized as physical or chemical in terms of the strength of the hydrogen bonds formed. Chemical defects lead to significantly enhanced interactions with stronger hydrogen bonds and larger elongation of OH bonds in comparison to the physical defects. The type of interaction with the defect structure significantly influences the planarity of the model peptide bond in NMA. Both cases, enhancement of the planarity by increase of the CN double bond character and strong deviations from planarity, are observed.

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The influence of dissolved humic substances on the transport of (4-chloro-2-methylphenoxy) acetic acid (MCPA) in a sandy soil with a low organic carbon content was studied in a column experiment. Soil columns were eluted with aqueous solutions containing different fractions of humic substances. More than 70% of the applied compound was found in the leachate in all sandy soil experiments, but distinct differences were obtained depending on the composition of the eluent. The addition of both humic and fulvic acids to the eluent affected the leaching behaviour of MCPA. While the presence of humic acids increased and accelerated the movement of MCPA in the investigated sandy soil, fulvic acids caused the opposite effect: increased retention was observed relative to the control. We concluded that a possible carrier transport or retention strongly depends on the composition of the dissolved organic matter. Thus, changes in the composition of dissolved organic matter may affect MCPA movement into deeper soil layers.

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Stable isotope analysis of 15N/14N and 18O/16O-nitrate was used to investigate the nitrate dynamics and potential groundwater pollution in an Alpine forest stand in Tyrol/Austria. The dynamics of delta15-N(nitrate) values were followed in a forest ecosystem. The stable isotopic values of the throughfall are comparable with other studies. The completely decoupled dynamics of the delta15-N(nitrate) of the precipitation and the surface water was observed. High variations in delta15N-nitrate values in rainfall indicate that nitrate of different sources is deposited at that site. A significant correlation between the delta15N(nitrate) values of the surface water and soil water was obtained, while no significant correlation between the delta15N(nitrate) values of any precipitation sample with the surface water could be found. This suggests that the main source of nitrate in soil water originates from microbiological activity such as nitrification reactions and less from nitrate input by deposition. The results of delta18O(nitrate) measurements strongly supported the microbiological origin of nitrate in the surface and soil water In an additional lysimeter experiment, 15N-labelled nitrate was applied to study nitrate transport in soil. After 130 days and the collection of 300 L leachate, a total of 52% of the applied nitrate was detected in seepage water.

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In the North Tyrolean Limestone Alps a site was investigated over a four-year period (1998-2001) in order to assess the nitrogen saturation status, the nitrogen budget (quantification of the net uptake of nitrogen by the canopy and of the nitrogen mineralization, nitrogen uptake from roots and N2O emission rates, proof of the origin of nitrate in the soil water with stable isotope analyses), and the effects of the actual nitrogen input on ground water quality. The main goals were to quantify the nitrogen input rate, the nitrogen pools in above-ground and below-ground compartments, nitrogen turnover processes in the soil as well as the output into the groundwater and into the atmosphere. The findings are based on continuous and discontinuous field measurements as well as on model results. While nitrogen input exceeded the Critical Loads of the WHO (1995), nitrogen deficiency and nutrient imbalances were verified by needle analyses. The atmospheric input of inorganic nitrogen was higher than the nitrogen output in 50 cm soil depth. A tracer experiment with 15N helped to prove that not more than half of the applied nitrate could be discharged. This allows the conclusion that nitrogen is stored in the system and that the site cannot yet be said to be saturated with nitrogen. The same result was also obtained by modelling. In addition, it was proved that the nitrogen discharge did not stem from deposition but from processes within the system.

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