Analytical Sciences

Determination of Labile Fe(II) Species Complexed with Seawater Extractable Organic Matter Under Seawater Conditions Based on the Kinetics of Ligand-exchange Reactions with Ferrozine

Hisanori IWAI,* Masami FUKUSHIMA,* and Mitsuo YAMAMOTO**

*Laboratory of Chemical Resource, Division of Sustainable Resources Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-8628, Japan
**Graduate School of Frontier Sciences & Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa 277-8564, Japan

A fertilizer, comprised of a mixture of steel slag and compost, was used to restore seaweed beds in barren coastal areas. Complex Fe(II) species, supplied by steel slag, play a significant role in supplying Fe(II) to coastal areas and stimulating seaweed growth. Seawater extractable organic matter (SWEOM) from compost is generally assumed to serve as a chelator of Fe(II) in the fertilizer. It is considered that the bioavailability of Fe(II)-SWEOM complexes is higher in the dissociable (labile) species. In the present study, a method for determining labile species of Fe(II)-SWEOM complexes in seawater (pH 8.0, I = 0.7) was developed. The method is based on a ligand-exchange reaction between SWEOM and ferrozine (FZ). Because Fe(II) is readily oxidized to Fe(III) under normal seawater conditions, ascorbic acid was added as an antioxidant. The coloring for the Fe-FZ complex in the presence of SWEOM was retarded. This retarding can be attributed to a ligand-exchange reaction between FZ and labile Fe(II)-SWEOM complexes. Conditional binding constants for the labile Fe(II)-SWEOM complexes and binding capacities of labile sites in SWEOM to Fe(II) were evaluated for a variety of total Fe(II) concentrations.

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