Combined 3D-spectrofluorometry, high performance liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis for the characterization of dissolved organic matter in natural waters

3D-spectrofluorometry, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and capillary electrophoresis (CE) were used to differentiate between marine and fresh water samples. These three techniques were used to obtain different patterns for marine and fresh waters, thus confirming that the organic materials they contain are different. The HPLC fractionation allowed the separation of different classes of dissolved organic matter (DOM) components. Their further analyses using both 3D spectrofluorometry and CE demonstrated that the isolated fractions were specific of the water origin. Furthermore, capillary electrophoresis was shown to have a considerable potential for fingerprinting and for a better characterisation of DOM of different origins.