[junmin9]

Hi,

I was given a tough question to answer and hope to find some help here. As calcium and lactate have a very strong interaction in aqueous solution and given the fact that calcium is +2, can 2 lactates bind to each calcium? And how do I calculate the equilibrium between free calcium + free lactate, calcium with one lactate bound, and calcium with two lactate bound, which are dependent on the relative concentrations of each. If there are papers related to this topic, please do include links so that I will be able to understand this in more details.

Thank you.

[Borek]

And how do I calculate the equilibrium

You need complex formation (stability) constants for that. You may be able to find them in tables. Once you have the constants, this is an equilibrium problem like zillions of others, Chem101.

[fledarmus]

This might be a good starting point for you. The citations point to earlier solubility studies.

N. Kubantseva, R.W. Hartel, P.A. Swearingen
Factors Affecting Solubility of Calcium Lactate in Aqueous Solutions
Journal of Dairy Science, Volume 87, Issue 4, April 2004 , Pages 863-867
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030204732300