Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid

Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, widely abbreviated as EDTA (for other names, see Table), is an aminopolycarboxylic acid and a colourless, water-soluble solid. Its conjugate base is named ethylenediaminetetraacetate. It is widely used to dissolve limescale. Its usefulness arises because of its role as a hexadentate ("six-toothed") ligand and chelating agent, i.e., its ability to "sequester" metal ions such as Ca and Fe. After being bound by EDTA, metal ions remain in solution but exhibit diminished reactivity. EDTA is produced as several salts, notably disodium EDTA and calcium disodium EDTA.