EDTA complexes

The formation constants of EDTA complexes are gathered in Table 11.34. Based on their stability, the EDTA complexes of the most common metal ions may be roughly divided into three groups ... 

BackTitrations. In the performance of aback titration, a known, but excess quantity of EDTA or other chelon is added, the pH is now properly adjusted, and the excess of the chelon is titrated with a suitable standard metal salt solution. Back titration procedures are especially useful when the metal ion to be determined cannot be kept in solution under the titration conditions or where the reaction of the metal ion with the chelon occurs too slowly to permit a direct titration, as in the titration of chromium(III) with EDTA. Back titration procedures sometimes permit a metal ion to be determined by the use of a metal indicator that is blocked by that ion in a direct titration. Eor example, nickel, cobalt, or aluminum form such stable complexes with Eriochrome Black T that the direct titration would fail. However, if an excess of EDTA is added before the indicator, no blocking occurs in the back titration with a magnesium or zinc salt solution. These metal ion titrants are chosen because they form EDTA complexes of relatively low stability, thereby avoiding the possible titration of EDTA bound by the sample metal ion. 

Manganese(II) can be titrated directly to Mn(III) using hexacyanoferrate(III) as the oxidant. Alternatively, Mn(III), prepared by oxidation of the Mn(II)-EDTA complex with lead dioxide, can be determined by titration with standard iron(II) sulfate. 

Salicylic acid 2-Hydroxybenzoic acid LeSCN2+ at pH 3 is reddish-brown Typical uses Pe(III) titrated with EDTA to colorless iron-EDTA complex... 

TABLE 11.34 Formation Constants of EDTA Complexes at 25°C, Ionic Strength Approaching Zero ... 

Ni(CN)4 is greater than that for the Ni-EDTA complex. In fact, the equilibrium constant for the reaction in which EDTA displaces the masking agent... 

Unfortunately, it often happens that there is no suitable indicator for this direct titration. Reacting Ca + with an excess of the Mg -EDTA complex... 

Metal—EDTA Formation Constants To illustrate the formation of a metal-EDTA complex consider the reaction between Cd + and EDTA... 

Structures of (a) EDTA, and (b) a six-coordinate metal-EDTA complex. 

EDTA Must Compete with Other Ligands To maintain a constant pH, we must add a buffering agent. If one of the buffer s components forms a metal-ligand complex with Cd +, then EDTA must compete with the ligand for Cd +. For example, an NH4+/NH3 buffer includes the ligand NH3, which forms several stable Cd +-NH3 complexes. EDTA forms a stronger complex with Cd + and will displace NH3. The presence of NH3, however, decreases the stability of the Cd +-EDTA complex. 

After the equivalence point, pCd is determined by the dissociation of the Cd +-EDTA complex. Using values from Table 9.15, we plot pCd for 30.0 mL and 40.0 mL of EDTA (figure 9.28d). 

Finding the End Point with a Visual Indicator Most indicators for complexation titrations are organic dyes that form stable complexes with metal ions. These dyes are known as metallochromic indicators. To function as an indicator for an EDTA titration, the metal-indicator complex must possess a color different from that of the uncomplexed indicator. Furthermore, the formation constant for the metal-indicator complex must be less favorable than that for the metal-EDTA complex. 

A partial list of metallochromic indicators, and the metal ions and pH conditions for which they are useful, is given in Table 9.16. Even when a suitable indicator does not exist, it is often possible to conduct an EDTA titration by introducing a small amount of a secondary metal-EDTA complex, provided that the secondary metal ion forms a stronger complex with the indicator and a weaker complex with EDTA than the analyte. For example, calmagite can be used in the determination of... 

Why is a small amount of Mg +-EDTA complex added to the buffer ... 

Sketch the spectrophotometric titration curve for the titration of a mixture of 5.00 X 10 M Bi + and 5.00 X 10 M Cu + with 0.0100 M EDTA. Assume that only the Cu +-EDTA complex absorbs at the selected wavelength. 

Solutions containing both Le + and AF+ can be selectively analyzed for Le + by buffering to a pH of 2 and titrating with EDTA. The pH of the solution is then raised to 5 and an excess of EDTA added, resulting in the formation of the AF+-EDTA complex. The excess EDTA is back titrated using a standard solution of Le +, providing an indirect analysis for AF+. 

EDTA forms colored complexes with a variety of metal ions that may serve as the basis for a quantitative spectrophotometric method of analysis. The molar absorptivities of the EDTA complexes of Cu +, Co +, and Ni + at three wavelengths are summarized in the following table (all values of e are in cm )... 

H00CCH2)2NCH2CH2N(CH2C00H)2. Examples of tEoiium—EDTA complexes aie Th(EDTA) XH2O, Th(EDTA)(OH)] , and Th(EDTA)F2] . 

Compared to later elements in their respective transition series, scandium, yttrium and lanthanum have rather poorly developed coordination chemistries and form weaker coordinate bonds, lanthanum generally being even less inclined to form strong coordinate bonds than scandium. This is reflected in the stability constants of a number of relevant 1 1 metal-edta complexes ... 

Depending upon the structure of the substrates 49, 52, and 56 hexahydropyrido[l,2-n]-[3,l]benzoxazines 50, 54, 2-aminobenzaldehyde 53, 1-substituted piperidones 51, 55, 57, 3,4,5,6-tetrahydropyridinium salt 58, or their mixture was obtained during the oxidation of 1-(2-hydroxymethyl-, 2-formyl- and 2-acetylphenyl)piperazines (49, 52, 56) with Hg(II)-EDTA complex (Schemes 6-8) (79AP219, 98ZN(B)37, 98ZN(B)1369). 

One mole of the complex-forming H2 Y2 reacts in all cases with one mole of the metal ion and in each case, also, two moles of hydrogen ion are formed. It is apparent from equation (o) that the dissociation of the complex will be governed by the pH of the solution lowering the pH will decrease the stability of the metal-EDTA complex. The more stable the complex, the lower the pH at which an EDTA titration of the metal ion in question may be carried out. Table 2.3 indicates minimum pH values for the existence of EDTA complexes of some selected metals. 

Table 2.3 Stability with respect to pH of some metal-EDTA complexes...

It is thus seen that, in general, EDTA complexes with metal ions of the charge number 2 are stable in alkaline or slightly acidic solution, whilst complexes with ions of charge numbers 3 or 4 may exist in solutions of much higher acidity. 

Some values for the stability constants (expressed as logX) of metal-EDTA complexes are collected in Table 2.4 these apply to a medium of ionic strength 7 = 0.1 at 20 °C. 

In equation (q) only the fully ionised form of EDTA, i.e. the ion Y4 , has been taken into account, but at low pH values the species HY3, H2Y2, H3 Y and even undissociated H4Y may well be present in other words, only a part of the EDTA uncombined with metal may be present as Y4. Further, in equation (q) the metal ion M"+ is assumed to be uncomplexed, i.e. in aqueous solution it is simply present as the hydrated ion. If, however, the solution also contains substances other than EDTA which can complex with the metal ion, then the whole of this ion uncombined with EDTA may no longer be present as the simple hydrated ion. Thus, in practice, the stability of metal-EDTA complexes may be altered (a) by variation in pH and (b) by the presence of other complexing agents. The stability constant of the EDTA complex will then be different from the value recorded for a specified pH in pure aqueous solution the value recorded for the new conditions is termed the apparent or conditional stability constant. It is clearly necessary to examine the effect of these two factors in some detail. 

The factor at can be calculated from the known dissociation constants of EDTA, and since the proportions of the various ionic species derived from EDTA will be dependent upon the pH of the solution, a will also vary with pH a plot of log a against pH shows a variation of logoc = 18 at pH = 1 to loga = 0 at pH = 12 such a curve is very useful for dealing with calculations of apparent stability constants. Thus, for example, from Table 2.4, log K of the EDTA complex of the Pb2+ ion is 18.0 and from a graph of log a against pH, it is found that at a pH of 5.0, log a = 7. Hence from equation (30), at a pH of 5.0 the lead-EDTA complex has an apparent stability constant given by ... 

Determination. To an aliquot of the silver(I) solution containing between 10 and 50 pg of silver, add sufficient EDTA to complex all those cations present which form an EDTA complex. If gold is present (>250 xg) it is masked by adding sufficient bromide ion to form the AuBr4 complex. Cyanide, thiocyanate or iodide ions are masked by adding sufficient mercury(II) ions to complex these anions followed by sufficient EDTA to complex any excess mercury(II). Add 1 mL of 20 per cent ammonium acetate solution, etc., and proceed as described under Calibration. 

C. Replacement or substitution titration. Substitution titrations may be used for metal ions that do not react (or react unsatisfactorily) with a metal indicator, or for metal ions which form EDTA complexes that are more stable than those of other metals such as magnesium and calcium. The metal cation M + to be determined may be treated with the magnesium complex of EDTA, when the following reaction occurs ... 

An interesting application is the titration of calcium. In the direct titration of calcium ions, solochrome black gives a poor end point if magnesium is present, it is displaced from its EDTA complex by calcium and an improved end point results (compare Section 10.51). 

EDTA is a very unselective reagent because it complexes with numerous doubly, triply and quadruply charged cations. When a solution containing two cations which complex with EDTA is titrated without the addition of a complex-forming indicator, and if a titration error of 0.1 per cent is permissible, then the ratio of the stability constants of the EDTA complexes of the two metals M and N must be such that KM/KN 106 if N is not to interfere with the titration of M. Strictly, of course, the constants KM and KN considered in the above expression should be the apparent stability constants of the complexes. If complex-forming indicators are used, then for a similar titration error KM/KN z 108. 

This reaction will proceed if the metal indicator complex M-In is less stable than the metal-EDTA complex M EDTA. The former dissociates to a limited extent, and during the titration the free metal ions are progressively complexed by the EDTA until ultimately the metal is displaced from the complex M-In to leave the free indicator (In). The stability of the metal-indicator complex may be expressed in terms of the formation constant (or indicator constant) Ku ... 

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