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Ammonium ferric citrate

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Formula
  
C6H5+4yFexNyO7

Appearance
  
yellow crystals

Ammonium ferric citrate

Ammonium ferric citrate has the formula (NH4)5[Fe(C6H4O7)2]. A distinguishing feature of this compound is that it is very soluble in water, in contrast to ferric citrate which is not very soluble.

In its crystal structure each citric acid moiety has lost four protons, and the deprotonated hydroxyl groups act as ligands together with four carboxylate groups; two carboxylate groups are not coordinated to the ferric ion.

Uses

Ammonium ferric citrate has a range of uses, including:

  • As a food additive, where it has the E number E381, and is used as an acidity regulator.
  • Water purification
  • As a reducing agent of metal salts of low activity like gold and silver.
  • With potassium ferricyanide as part of the cyanotype photographic process.
  • Used in Kligler iron deeps to determine hydrogen sulfide production in microbial metabolism.
  • In medical imaging, ammonium ferric citrate is used as a contrast medium.
  • As a hematinic.

    • References

    Ammonium ferric citrate Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA