Stabilizers EDTA,

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. 

Conditional Metal—Ligand Formation Constants Recognizing EDTA s acid-base properties is important. The formation constant for CdY in equation 9.11 assumes that EDTA is present as Y . If we restrict the pH to levels greater than 12, then equation 9.11 provides an adequate description of the formation of CdY . for pH levels less than 12, however, K overestimates the stability of the CdY 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. 

The calcium form of EDTA instead of free EDTA is used in many food preparations to stabilize against such deleterious effects as rancidity, loss of ascorbic acid, loss of flavor, development of cloudiness, and discoloration. The causative metal ions are sequestered by displacing calcium from the chelate, and possible problems, such as depletion of body calcium from ingestion of any excess of the free chelant, had it been used, are avoided. 

The complexers maybe tartrate, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), tetrakis(2-hydroxypropyl)ethylenediamine, nittilotriacetic acid (NTA), or some other strong chelate. Numerous proprietary stabilizers, eg, sulfur compounds, nitrogen heterocycles, and cyanides (qv) are used (2,44). These formulated baths differ ia deposition rate, ease of waste treatment, stabiHty, bath life, copper color and ductiHty, operating temperature, and component concentration. Most have been developed for specific processes all deposit nearly pure copper metal. 

Oxygen chelates such as those of edta and polyphosphates are of importance in analytical chemistry and in removing Ca ions from hard water. There is no unique. sequence of stabilities since these depend sensitively on a variety of factors where geometrical considerations are not important the smaller ions tend to form the stronger complexes but in polydentate macrocycles steric factors can be crucial. Thus dicyclohexyl-18-crown-6 (p. 96) forms much stronger complexes with Sr and Ba than with Ca (or the alkali metals) as shown in Fig. 5.6. Structural data are also available and an example of a solvated 8-coordinate Ca complex [(benzo-l5-crown-5)-Ca(NCS)2-MeOH] is shown in Fig. 5.7. The coordination polyhedron is not regular Ca lies above the mean plane of the 5 ether oxygens... 

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 ... 

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...

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 ... 

The extent of hydrolysis of (MY)(n 4)+ depends upon the characteristics of the metal ion, and is largely controlled by the solubility product of the metallic hydroxide and, of course, the stability constant of the complex. Thus iron(III) is precipitated as hydroxide (Ksal = 1 x 10 36) in basic solution, but nickel(II), for which the relevant solubility product is 6.5 x 10 l8, remains complexed. Clearly the use of excess EDTA will tend to reduce the effect of hydrolysis in basic solutions. It follows that for each metal ion there exists an optimum pH which will give rise to a maximum value for the apparent stability constant. 

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 ... 

Variamine blue (C.I. 37255). The end point in an EDTA titration may sometimes be detected by changes in redox potential, and hence by the use of appropriate redox indicators. An excellent example is variamine blue (4-methoxy-4 -aminodiphenylamine), which may be employed in the complexometric titration of iron(III). When a mixture of iron(II) and (III) is titrated with EDTA the latter disappears first. As soon as an amount of the complexing agent equivalent to the concentration of iron(III) has been added, pFe(III) increases abruptly and consequently there is a sudden decrease in the redox potential (compare Section 2.33) the end point can therefore be detected either potentiometrically or with a redox indicator (10.91). The stability constant of the iron(III) complex FeY- (EDTA = Na2H2Y) is about 1025 and that of the iron(II) complex FeY2 - is 1014 approximate calculations show that the change of redox potential is about 600 millivolts at pH = 2 and that this will be almost independent of the concentration of iron(II) present. The jump in redox potential will also be obtained if no iron(II) salt is actually added, since the extremely minute amount of iron(II) necessary is always present in any pure iron(III) salt. 

There is an appreciable difference between the stability constants of the CDTA complexes of barium (log K = 7.99) and calcium (log K = 12.50), with the result that calcium may be titrated with CDTA in the presence of barium the stability constants of the EDTA complexes of these two metals are too close together to permit independent titration of calcium in the present of barium. 

The thermal stability of EDTA as the free add and also as the more widely used disodium salt, Na2EDTA,2H20, has been reported by Wendlandt.33 He showed that the dehydration of the disodium salt commences at between 110... 

In a similar manner, in a solution containing the species Hg2+, HgY2-, MY,n 4)+ and M"+, where Y is the complexing agent EDTA and M"+ is a metallic ion which forms complexes with it, the concentration of the mercury ion is controlled by the stability constants of the complex ions MYhigh stability constant), and the concentration of the metal ions M"+. Hence, a mercury electrode placed in this solution will acquire a potential which is determined by the concentration of the ion M"+. 

Discussion. Salicylic acid and iron(III) ions form a deep-coloured complex with a maximum absorption at about 525 nm this complex is used as the basis for the photometric titration of iron(III) ion with standard EDTA solution. At a pH of ca 2.4 the EDTA-iron complex is much more stable (higher stability constant) than the iron-salicylic acid complex. In the titration of an iron-salicylic acid solution with EDTA the iron-salicylic acid colour will therefore gradually disappear as the end point is approached. The spectrophotometric end point at 525 nm is very sharp. 

Stability of aequorin in a solution is dramatically increased by the addition of ammonium sulfate. Thus, when solutions of aequorin in 5 mM HEPES, pH 7.2, containing 5 mM EDTA plus 0.5,1.0 or 2.0 M (NH4)iS04 were left standing at 20-22°C for 80 days in darkness, they retained 65%, 90%, and 95% of their original activity, respectively. Under similar conditions, aequorin solutions in pH 6.5 buffer containing 10 xM EDTA and 0.5 M or 1.0 M (hTT SCU retained 4% and 90% of the original activity, respectively. 

Fig. 4.3.1 Effect of pH on the total light emission of phialidin (A), and the temperature stability profiles of phialidin (minute open circles) and aequorin (solid line) (B). In A, each buffer contained 0.1 M CaCl2 plus 0.1 M Tris, glycine or sodium acetate, the pH being adjusted with NaOH or HC1. In B, the photoprotein samples in 10 mM Tris-EDTA buffer solution, pH 8.0, were maintained at a test temperature for 10 min, and immediately cooled in an ice water bath. Then total luminescence activity was measured by injecting 1ml of 0.1 M CaCl2/Tris-HCl, pH 7.0, to 10 pd of the test solution. From Levine and Ward (1982), with permission from Elsevier.

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