Spectroscopic studies of the metal complexes of ethylenediaminetetra-acetic acid in aqueous solution

Aqueous solutions of the metal complexes of ethylenediaminetetra-acetic acid (EDTA) are widely used in analysis; though X-ray diffraction methods cannot be directly used for structural determination in solution, ultraviolet-visible region, vibrational and NMR spectroscopy studies demonstrate that the species in solution adopt a similar range of stereochemistries to those determined for the solid state. Thus a review of the spectroscopic properties of the solutions suggests that chelates are formed in which the denticity of EDTA varies from one to six and the co-ordination number about the metal from four to nine.