The sparingly soluble calcium hydrogenphosphate dihydrate, co-dissolving in water during dissolution of freely soluble sodium hydrogencitrate sesquihydrate as caused by proton transfer from hydrogencitrate to hydrogenphosphate, was found to form homogenous solutions supersaturated by a factor up to 8 in calcium citrate tetrahydrate. A critical hydrogencitrate concentration for formation of homogeneous solutions was found to depend linearly on dissolved calcium hydrogenphosphate: [HCitr2-] = 14[CaHPO4] - 0.05 at 25 °C. The lag phase for precipitation of calcium citrate tetrahydrate, as identified from FT-IR spectra, from these spontaneously formed supersaturated solutions was several hours, and the time to reach solubility equilibrium was several days. Initial calcium ion activity was found to be almost independent of the degree of supersaturation as determined electrochemically. The supersaturated solutions had a pH around 4.7, and calcium binding to hydrogencitrate as the dominant citrate species during precipitation was found to be exothermic with a determined association constant of 357 L mol-1 at 25 °C for unit ionic strength, and ΔH° = -22 ± 2 kJ mol-1, ΔS° = -26 ± 8 J K-1 mol-1. Calcium binding to hydrogencitrate and, more importantly, to citrate is suggested to decrease the rate of precipitation by lowering the driving force of precipitation, and becoming important for the robust spontaneous supersaturation with perspectives for design of functional foods with increased calcium bioavailability.
Keywords: Calcium bioavailability; Calcium citrate supersaturation; Calcium supplements.
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