Treatment and preservation of samples are critical issues in measuring the optical properties of dissolved organic matter (DOM) due to their high sensitivity to physical and chemical changes upon sample handling. In this study, we rigorously assessed the potential interferences of sodium azide (NaN₃) on DOM absorption and fluorescence. A wide range of different samples were poisoned with varying NaN₃ concentrations. Several commonly used optical parameters derived from absorbance and fluorescence spectroscopy were compared at different samples and conditions to assess the interfering effect of NaN₃. Our results showed that NaN₃ altered the original features of absorbance and fluorescence even at the lowest level of the addition. The absorption coefficients of NaN₃-treated samples increased up to 2608% at 254 nm and 66% at 280 nm relative to the untreated control. Fluorescence data revealed both a quenching effect and an enhancement in fluorescence. The effect of NaN₃ on fluorescence was highly variable and affected by the NaN₃ concentrations added, and the sources and the concentrations of DOM samples. None of these factors exhibited a clear linear behavior with NaN₃ levels, making it difficult to develop a correction method. It can be recommended from the findings not to use NaN₃ in preserving DOM samples for optical measurements.

• 2017R1A4A1015393/National Research Foundation of Korea
• 2017033546/National Research Foundation of Korea