Studies on the reactions of ferric iron with ascorbic acid. A study of solution chemistry using Mossbauer spectroscopy and stopped-flow techniques

Abstract

We report studies on the interaction of iron(II1) and ascorbic acid as a function of pH in pure water, pure methanol and mixtures of these solvents. MBssbauer data indicates the iron(W) is reduced in water at low pH to iron(II). Rapid mixing studies and pH jump investigations using stopped flow spectrophotometry have been used to follow the reactions and show evidence for blue intermediates in the reduction pathway of iron at low pH values. A scheme is proposed to account for the complex reaction between iron and ascorbate in aqueous solvent. Binding constants between iron(II1) and ascorbate are given.