This study aimed at characterizing the chemical aspects of the humin compounds of a degraded clay extraction area covered with spontaneous vegetation of Brachiaria mutica (Forsk) Stapf or afforested with Acacia mangium Willd. After extraction and purification, humin was subjected to transesterification using BF3-MeOH (boron trifluorate methanol) to obtain the aliphatic and aromatic sub-fractions. These sub-fractions were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The following compounds were identified in the aliphatic sub-fraction of the A. mangium site: methyl hexadecanoate, methyl octadecanoate, methyl 2-hydroxidodecanoate and heptadecano, on the other hand, in B. mutica site the compounds were: methyl 14-methylpentadecanoate and methyl nonadecanoate. In the aromatic sub-fractions the compounds identified in soil samples colleted in A. mangium site were the same as those identified in B. mutica: methyl 14-methylpentadecanoate, 2-ethylexila 1.2 benzenodioate and buthyl. The re-vegetation of degraded area with the leguminous tree A. mangium inmduced changes in the recalcitrant fraction of humic substances (humin), preserving the diversity of the aliphatic compounds.
organic matter; leguminous tree; gas chromatography; mass spectrometry
