Interactions between iron(III) and sucrose, dextran, or starch in complexes

This paper is aimed to study the nature of iron(III)-saccharide interactions in complexes and to look for new iron-containing drugs for supplementing organisms. Iron(III)-saccharide complexes were synthesized by reacting FeCl₃ and saccharides (rice starch, sucrose, and dextran) in basic solutions and their characteristics were compared with synthetic iron-oxide. Both crystalline and amorphous iron(III) complexes were obtained and identified by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Amorphous samples were chosen to investigate the interactions between iron(III) and saccharides by continuous-flow dissolution experiments. In acidic solution, the rate of iron release from amorphous iron complexes increased with the following order: iron-rice starch≈iron-oxide≪iron-sucrose≈iron-dextran. The colloidal structure of iron-rice starch was proposed to describe its similar dissolution profile with that of iron-oxide.