HappyPhysicist wrote:Thanks so much for that analysis. I admit I have never heard of this "complex" phenomena in chemistry, but then again I didn't take it beyond my first year in college. What sort of bond is this? Also, can this state persist if TCDO is diluted in water? Wouldn't the added water just jumble everything up again into an ionic soup?
Complexes often form in situations where individual molecules are relatively electron-deficient when taken by themselves. Perhaps the best example of this occurs in
Borane. Such complexes are not necessarily held together by bonding interactions alone. Two different molecules with compatible shapes can also form
inclusion compounds, often in
very unexpected and unusual ways. (Cyclodextrin is the compound used in products like Febreeze to "trap in" odors.)
Now, this isn't to say that my previous description for the TCDO complex is in any way
accurate, mind you. My "cluster bomb" analogy is really just a cartoonish image I've created in my head to visualize the action of the complex (I'm a very visual learner). In fact, judging from the WF10
patent filing, it would seem that even the creators couldn't figure out what the TCDO complex actually looked like -- but they nevertheless provided spectroscopic evidence of the
existence of such a complex.
Many such complexes do indeed dissolve back into their constituent molecules when placed in water, but this is not necessarily the case.
Chelate complexes are often very stable in water, and there are even some complexes (like those involving
soap) that form
because of the influence of the surrounding water. In addition, a complex that happened to be stable in
neutral water may still readily dissociate when exposed to highly acidic or basic conditions. Indeed, in the case of ingesting WF10, I'd suspect that the stomach acid probably breaks down the TCDO complex into its constituent chlorite molecules, and if so it would render WF10 no more or less effective than OSC. Much of WF10's advantage over OSC, then, would lie in its ability to be administered intravenously.
HappyPhysicist wrote:I know what you are saying here but the "anionic form" is a physical impossibility. You simply cannot have a solution consisting of only one type of ion, so I see no reason to identify a substance, that is available for purchase, by its anionic form. It behooves the manufacturer to be specific.
I absolutely agree. Describing a specific product being sold as only consisting of "TCDO" is sloppy at best, and dangerous at worst. Someone who has high blood pressure or similar problems needs to know whether or not the medication being injected into his or her veins contains sodium vs. potassium ions. Referring to "TCDO" alone would only be appropriate when discussing, for example, its mode of action or therapeutic effects, or when talking about the physical structure of the TCDO complex itself.
Interesting fact: physically speaking, it is an absolutely imperative feature of all matter on Earth that the positive and negative charges EXACTLY cancel one another out. If there were even a 0.00000001% overall imbalance in the charges of particles, the resulting electromagnetic repulsion would be enough to cause potatoes to spontaneously explode.
Mike
"If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants." - Isaac Newton