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Extraction of Soil Organic Matter With Anhydrous Formic Acid¹

ABSTRACT

Formic acid, being a polar compound, has proved a good solvent for polysaccharides and in the anhydrous condition it exhibits neither oxidizing nor hydrolytic properties. Shaking soil with cold anhydrous formic acid dissolved an appreciable quantity of organic matter but extracted considerably less than did two consecutive -hour boiling periods under reflux. Addition of inorganic cations to the extractant increased its efficiency. Recovery of the dissolved material was attained by precipitation with diisopropyl ether containing 1% CH₃COCl which held inorganic cations in solution. Repeated precipitation from formic acid solution yielded a material low in ash with a good physical texture. The N extracted from a wide range of soils varied from 27 to 43% of the total N while for composts the value was as high as 87%. The yield of organic material represented from 27 to 39% of the total organic matter for the soils and 80% for the compost.

¹ Contribution from the Department of Agricultural Chemistry, The University of Reading, Berkshire, England. The senior author wishes to acknowledge the help of the University of Reading for a research scholarship. Presented before Div. III, Soil Science Society of America, Nov. 16, 1959, at Cincinnati, Ohio.

² Present addresses: Dept. of Agronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, and University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, respectively.

Received for publication November 10, 1959. Accepted for publication January 4, 1960.