Efficient Quantification of Soluble and Insoluble Oxalates in Clay Mineral Mixtures

Abstract

Quantification of oxalate salts in soil clay minerals is necessary to study oxalate biogeochemistry, but existing analytical techniques are expensive and time-consuming. We aim to develop an efficient attenuated total reflectance mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopic technique to quantify oxalate salts in a clay mineral matrix. We calibrated MIR models for analysis of oxalate anion concentrations in standard solutions (0–0.01 M) by using a partial least-squares regression algorithm. MIR models were also developed for analysis of sodium oxalate (NaOx) and calcium oxalate (CaOx) content in clay mineral mixtures with composition like soils of a semi-arid region and with contrasting concentrations (0–1.0 g g−1 for both oxalate salts) to test sensitivity of analyses. Validation plots (true vs predicted values) showed excellent model fit (R2 ≥ 0.96) and accuracy (normalized root mean squared error of prediction ≤
\n
\n0.06) for CaOx, NaOx and oxalic acid components. Once predictive models are stored in analytical software, MIR spectroscopic analyses of samples are much more efficient than chemical techniques. Our MIR spectral-based models are suitable for direct quantification of oxalate salts in clay mineral mixtures for samples like those used for model calibration.