Nitrilotriacetic acid

Nitrilotriacetic acid
IUPAC name	2,2',2''-nitrilotriacetic acid
Identifiers
CAS number	139-13-9 Y
PubChem	8758
SMILES	C(C(=O)O)N(CC(=O)O)CC(=O)O
Properties
Molecular formula	C6H9NO6
Molar mass	191.14 g mol−1
Y (what is this?)  (verify) Except where noted otherwise, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C, 100 kPa)
Infobox references

Nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA), C₆H₉NO₆, is a polyamino carboxylic acid and is used as a chelating agent which forms coordination compounds with metal ions (chelates) such as Ca²⁺, Cu²⁺ or Fe³⁺. In 1999 about 20,000 tons of NTA were used in Europe.

The uses of NTA are similar to that of EDTA. However, in contrast to EDTA, NTA is easily biodegradable and is almost completely removed during wastewater treatment.

In biotechnology applications it is used for protein isolation and purification. An aminobutanylated variant of NTA, called bis(carboxylmethyl)lysine, is linked to sephadex, which is used as a gel for affinity column chromatography: due to the fact that the delocalized electrons of imidazole have an affinity for nickel, recombinant protein containing a His-tag — 6 histidine residues at the C-terminus — will bind to the gel, while other protein will not, after extensive washes, the proteins are released due to competition with 250mM imidazole qiaexpressionist.

References

• NITRILOTRIACETIC ACID AND ITS SALTS, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)

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