METAL‐COMPLEX FORMATION BY LICHEN COMPOUNDS

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Abstract
Summary: The formation of soluble complexes, frequently coloured, when solid lichen compounds were shaken with water suspensions of biotite, granite, and basalt indicated that chemical weathering had occurred. The formation of colourless complexes and the adsorption of the dissolved lichen compound or complex by the silicate phase complicate the interpretation of the spectrophotometric analysis data. Lichen compounds invariably released greater amounts of Ca than of Mg, Fe, and Al from the silicates and, for each lichen compound, the release of Ca was usually greater from biotite than from granite or basalt. Release of cations from the silicate materials resulted largely from metal‐complex formation rather than from reactions directly involving hydrogen ions. Citric, salicylic, and phydroxy‐benzoic acids and EDTA, used as control organic acids, usually released considerably greater amounts of cations from the silicates than did the lichen compounds, consistent with the higher water solubility of the control organic acids. Similar amounts of Fe, Al, Ca, and Mg were released from the silicates by solutions of the lichen compounds and by solid lichen compounds. Lichen compounds are sufficiently soluble in water to form soluble metal complexes and to effect chemical weathering of minerals and rocks.

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