Liberation of sulfate from sulfate esters by soils

When incubated with acid, alkaline, and neutral soils, a variety of synthetic sulfate esters representing the various classes of these compounds was hydrolyzed by enzymes, probably of microbial origin. The appearance of sulfate in the soil water occurred immediately after introduction into the soils with some esters, whereas with others it occurred only after lag periods. Heat treatment destroyed the hydrolytic acitivity in the soils. The ester sulfate groups present in humic acid extracted from the soil appeared to be resistant to hydrolysis by a variety of sulfohydrolases extracted from bacteria and other organisms.