Effect of time and storing conditions on iron forms in ferrous gluconate and Ascofer

TL;DR

This study uses Mossbauer spectroscopy to analyze how storage time and conditions affect iron oxidation states in ferrous gluconate and Ascofer, revealing changes in Fe2+ and Fe3+ proportions over time.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the temporal evolution of iron forms in ferrous gluconate and Ascofer, highlighting internal reduction processes and site occupancy changes.

Findings

Fe2+ increases by 10% after 51 months in Ascofer

Fe3+ decreases correspondingly over time

Different iron sites show distinct population changes with age

Abstract

Antianemic medicament Ascofer and ferrous gluconate, its basic iron bearing ingredient, were studied with the use of Mossbauer spectroscopy. Room temperature spectra gave a clear evidence that two phases of iron were present viz. ferrous (Fe2+) as a major one with a contribution of 85+-5%, and ferric (Fe3+) whose contribution was found to be 15+-5%. However, the actual values of the contributions of the two kind of the iron ions in Ascofer depend on sample's age: the abundance of Fe2+ ions increases with time by 10% after 51 months, while that of Fe3+ decreases by the same amount. This means that an internal reduction of Fe3+ ions takes place. Ferrous ions were shown to occupy at least two different sites. In Ascofer, the relative abundance of the two sites does not depend on the age of sample, while in the gluconate the population of site 1 increases and that of site 2 decreases with the age of the sample.