20 Facts About EDTA

In industry, EDTA is mainly used to sequester metal ions in aqueous solution.

Reduction of water hardness in laundry applications and the dissolution of scale in boilers both rely on EDTA and related complexants to bind Ca, Mg, as well as other metal ions.

However, given the pH dependence of ligand formation, EDTA is not helpful for improving iron solubility in above neutral soils.

EDTA was used in separation of the lanthanide metals by ion-exchange chromatography.

Sodium calcium edetate, an EDTA derivative, is used to bind metal ions in the practice of chelation therapy, such as for treating mercury and lead poisoning.

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EDTA is in tan top tubes for lead testing and can be used in royal blue top tubes for trace metal testing.

EDTA is a slime dispersant, and has been found to be highly effective in reducing bacterial growth during implantation of intraocular lenses.

In shampoos, cleaners, and other personal care products, EDTA salts are used as a sequestering agent to improve their stability in air.

EDTA finds many specialised uses in the biomedical labs, such as in veterinary ophthalmology as an anticollagenase to prevent the worsening of corneal ulcers in animals.

In tissue culture EDTA is used as a chelating agent that binds to calcium and prevents joining of cadherins between cells, preventing clumping of cells grown in liquid suspension, or detaching adherent cells for passaging.

EDTA is known to inhibit a range of metallopeptidases, the method of inhibition occurs via the chelation of the metal ion required for catalytic activity.

EDTA can be used to test for bioavailability of heavy metals in sediments.

EDTA is used to remove crud from fuel rods in nuclear reactors.

Today, EDTA is mainly synthesised from ethylenediamine, formaldehyde, and sodium cyanide.

In coordination chemistry, EDTA is a member of the aminopolycarboxylic acid family of ligands.

Many complexes of EDTA adopt more complex structures due to either the formation of an additional bond to water, i e seven-coordinate complexes, or the displacement of one carboxylate arm by water.

Early work on the development of EDTA was undertaken by Gerold Schwarzenbach in the 1940s.

Finally, since complexes of EDTA are anionic, they tend to be highly soluble in water.

EDTA is in such widespread use that questions have been raised whether it is a persistent organic pollutant.

EDTA has been measured in non-alcoholic beverages using high performance liquid chromatography at a level of 2.