Chromatographic Determination of Fe Chelated by Ethylenediamine-N-(o-hydroxyphenylacetic)-N‘-(p-hydroxyphenylacetic) Acid in Commercial EDDHA/Fe3+ Fertilizers

EDDHA/Fe3+ chelates are the most common fertilizers used to solve Fe chlorosis in established crops. Commercial products contain two regioisomers, ethylenediamine-N,N‘-bis(o-hydroxyphenylacetic) acid (o,o-EDDHA)/Fe3+ and ethylenediamine-N-(o-hydroxyphenylacetic)-N‘-(p-hydroxyphenylacetic) acid (o,p-EDDHA)/Fe3+. Although several chromatographic methods exist for the determination of Fe3+ chelated by the o,o-EDDHA isomer, no method has been described for the quantification of Fe3+ chelated by o,p-EDDHA. In this work, factors that affect the behavior of o,p-EDDHA/Fe3+ in ion pair chromatography are reviewed: pH, ion pair reagent, and organic modifier. The best chromatographic performance was obtained with an aqueous mobile phase at pH 6.0 containing 35% acetonitrile and 5 mM tetrabutylammonium hydroxide under isocratic elution conditions. This method was applied to the quantification of commercial samples. Keywords: EDDHA/Fe3+; Fe3+ chelates; fertilizers; HPLC; o,o-EDDHA/Fe3+; o,p-EDDHA/Fe3+