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Updated: Jun 28, 2025

Sulfate Separation by Selective Crystallization with a Bis-iminoguanidinium Ligand
Published on: September 8, 2016
Sulfate: a neglected (but potentially highly relevant) anion
Emil den Bakker1, Desiree E C Smith2, Martijn J J Finken3
1Department of Pediatric Nephrology, Emma Childrens Hospital, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Abstract:
Sulfate is an important anion as sulfonation is essential in modulation of several compounds, such as exogens, polysaccharide chains of proteoglycans, cholesterol or cholesterol derivatives and tyrosine residues of several proteins. Sulfonation requires the presence of both the sulfate donor 3'-phosphoadenosine-5'-phosphosulfate (PAPS) and a sulfotransferase. Genetic disorders affecting sulfonation, associated with skeletal abnormalities, impaired neurological development and endocrinopathies, demonstrate the importance of sulfate. Yet sulfate is not measured in clinical practice. This review addresses sulfate metabolism and consequences of sulfonation defects, how to measure sulfate and why we should measure sulfate more often.
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Ions as Acids and Bases
Salts are ionic compounds composed of cations and anions, either of which may be capable of undergoing an acid or base ionization reaction with water. Aqueous salt solutions, therefore, may be acidic, basic, or neutral, depending on the relative acid-base strengths of the salt’s constituent ions. For example, dissolving the ammonium chloride in water results in its dissociation, as described by the equation:

