Kinetic and Equilibrium Constants of Phytic Acid and Ferric and Ferrous Phytate Derived from Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Inositol phosphates are metabolically derived organic phosphates (P) that increasingly appear to be an important sink and source of P in the environment. Salts of myo-inositol hexakisdihydrogen phosphate (IHP) or more commonly phytate are the most common inositol phosphates in the environment. I HP resists acidic dephosphorylation and enzymatic dephosphorylation as ferric or ferrous IHP. Mobility of IHP iron complexes is potentially pH and redox responsive, making the time scale and environmental fate and transport of the P associated with the IHP of interest to the mass balance of phosphorus. Ferric and ferrous complexes of IHP were investigated by proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-1 NMR) and enzymatic dephosphorylation. Ferrous IHP was found to form quickly and persist for a longer period then ferric IHP. Dissociation constants derived from H-1 NMR experiments of chemically exchanging systems at equilibrium were 1.11 and 1.19 and formation constants were 0.90 and 0.84 for ferric and ferrous IHP, respectively. The recovery of P from enzymatic dephosphorylation of ferric and ferrous IHP was consistent with the magnitude of the kinetic and equilibrium rate constants.