Chemical structure of terrestrial humus materials formed from different vegetation characterized by solid-state 13C NMR with CP-MAS techniques

Abstract

Eleven samples of terrestrial humus from different vegetational backgrounds were examined with solid‐state 13C NMR using cross‐polarization and magic‐angle spinning (CP‐MAS). In addition, all the samples were run with a dipolar dephasing pulse sequence for non‐quarternary carbon suppression (NQS). The humus samples all appeared to contain small amounts of aromatic substances and larger amounts of aliphatic compounds. Most of the samples contained considerable amounts of hydroxyl groups and acetals, which originate mainly from carbohydrates. No correlations were found between vegetational background and chemical structure.