A chemical extraction method for mimicking bioavailability of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to wheat grown in soils containing various amounts of organic matter.

In this study, we have evaluated the extent to which organic matter contents in soils influence the accumulation of PAHs by the roots of wheat plants and have developed a rapid chemical method for determining the bioavailability of PAH. Four polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), naphthalene, acenaphthylene, fluorene, and phenanthrene, were added to natural soil samples with different amounts of organic matterfor pot experiments to evaluate apparent bioavailability of PAHs to wheat roots (Triticum aestivum L.). The extractabilities of PAHs in the soil were tested by a sequential extraction scheme using accelerated solvent extraction with water, n-hexane, and a mixture of dichloromethane and acetone as solvents. The water or n-hexane-extractable PAHs were positively correlated to dissolved organic matter (DOM) and negatively correlated to total organic matter (TOM), indicating mobilization and immobilization effects of DOM and TOM on soil PAHs, respectively. The apparent accumulation of PAHs by wheat roots was also positively and negatively correlated to DOM and TOM, respectively. As a result, there are positive correlations between the amounts of PAHs extracted by water or n-hexane and the quantities accumulated in plant roots, suggesting the feasibility of using water- or n-hexanes-extractable fractions as indicators of PAH availability to plants.