Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Iron Sulfate from pills

mericad193724 - 21-6-2006 at 12:45

Hello,

I need to get some iron sulfate...CVS sells Iron deficiecy pills for $6.99 which contain it.

The description of the pills says:

"Life Fitness is a leading fitness solutions brand. Dried Ferrous Sulfate 202 mg (65 mg elemental iron) is equivalent to 325 mg Ferrous Sulfate per tablet."

So...does each pill have 202 mg, 65 mg, or 325 mg Iron Sulfate?

I will need to isolate it, any ideas? It is soluble in wate, but the pill also contains:

Cellulose; Dicalcium Phosphate; Calcium Carbonate; Croscarmellose; Silica; Cellulose Coating; Vegetable Magnesium Stearate; Titanium Dioxide

Thanks.

Mericad

Nerro - 21-6-2006 at 12:56

Go to a garden center and buy slug killer, it's pure FeSO4

Darkblade48 - 21-6-2006 at 13:05

Quote:
Originally posted by mericad193724
So...does each pill have 202 mg, 65 mg, or 325 mg Iron Sulfate?

Each pill should have 202 mg of (anhydrous) Iron Sulfate (65 grams of which is iron). 202 mg of (anhydrous) Iron Sulfate can be "equivalent" to 325 mg, most likely if the 325 mg is hydrated Iron sulfate.

Also, Nerro is correct, you will waste a lot of money if you attempt to extract the Iron Sulfate from those pills.

Quote:
Originally posted by Nerro
Go to a garden center and buy slug killer, it's pure FeSO4


Interestingly enough, slug killers in Canada are just a wide slew of organic chemicals :(

I've been looking for it myself, actually.

[Edited on 6-21-2006 by Darkblade48]

mericad193724 - 21-6-2006 at 13:15

Thanks guys.

I checked the slug killer at my hardware storea few days ago. it contains a few crazy organic chemcials, won't work for me.

The bottle of Iron deficiency pills has 100 pills ($7). 20g Anhydrous is PLENTY for me!

Since I will probably dissolve the pills, the iron sulphate will become hydrated. Is there a way to "un-hydrate" it? It is porbably more complicated than just heating.

12AX7 - 21-6-2006 at 13:21

It may hydrolyze or oxidize a little; excluding air (or just oxygen) can prevent oxidation, while keeping the temperature low will prevent hydrolysis.

Possibly the best way would be to warm it inside a sealed dessicator. Something like CaCl2 absorbs the moisture, while the remaining oxygen can be removed or tolerated. It will turn to a white powder (efflorescence).

Else you can melt it until it's dry, as when drying epsom salts (which is essentially identical, since Mg and Fe(II) ions are very similar). But it may give off a lot of SO2, SO3 and H2SO4 fumes.

Tim

chemoleo - 21-6-2006 at 14:53

Iron sulfate is also often sold as a moss remover...by the kilogram. I got several kg of it, and wouldnt know what to do with it!
Otherwise, how about dissolving iron nails in H2SO4 (draincleaner)?
I do think you are making things needlessly complicated... .:)

hodges - 21-6-2006 at 15:55

Couldn't you just react some iron with sulfuric acid (from drain cleaner)? Might be a bit slow, but should work, especially if heated.

mericad193724 - 21-6-2006 at 16:20

yea sure....I could react iron with sulfuric acid! I will do that instead. It will relase hydrogen gas, right?

Would the same process work with zinc metal to get zinc sulfate?

thanks

Mericad

evil_lurker - 21-6-2006 at 16:40

Honestly....

http://www.chemistrystore.com/Ferrous_Sulfate.htm

Buy all you want for less than $1.50 USD per pound.

YT2095 - 22-6-2006 at 01:34

oddly enough I just finished a batch of beautifull mint green FeSO4.7H2O crystals yesterday.
I bought 2 kilo of moss killer raw in a bag for pence.
it suffers ariel oxidation, and so when dissolved in boiling water it`ll look like rusty mud, but filter this and so you get a dark brown/red clear liquid and then add sulphuric acid slowly while stiring until the color changes to a yellow/green.
allow it to cool slowly, you`ll have masses of mint green crystals growing at the bottom.
a quick wash with cold clean water and then put them out on an evaporating dish under a fan blowing cold air.
Dont attempt to dry them with heat, they lose 1 water of crystalisation making .6H2O`at a very low temp.

YT2095 - 22-6-2006 at 09:07

LOL, other than a complete Mess, sounds something similar to Gall Ink :)

Elawr - 22-6-2006 at 10:03

I get FeS04 hydrate from the local feed and seed in five lb bags for less than $10. It's called "copperas" and is used as a fertilizer. Its easy to make if you can't find it. Just toss some rusty scrap iron into a good ceramic crock and add enough dilute H2SO4 to cover the iron. Leave in a sunny place with a cover on it for safety, and electrochemistry will do the rest.

mericad193724 - 22-6-2006 at 14:40

Well, I think I will just use the pills, everything except the iron sulfate is insoluble. If I boil the water which contains the dissolved iron sulfate, will it decompose or will I be ok?

thanks
Mericad

mericad193724 - 22-6-2006 at 19:20

hey, just a quick question...

Is sulfuric acid OK with rubber stoppers or will it mess them up?

thanks

woelen - 22-6-2006 at 23:08

Depends on concentration. Concentrated acid will make them brittle very fast. The dilute acid also attacks them, but not at a very high rate. I have used rubber stoppers with dilute acids and they withstand the acids for months.

The presence of oxidizing agents also highly speeds up the corrosion on the rubber stoppers, especially the halogens are really bad on them.

unionised - 23-6-2006 at 00:28

"Well, I think I will just use the pills, everything except the iron sulfate is insoluble. If I boil the water which contains the dissolved iron sulfate, will it decompose or will I be ok?"
The FeSO4 will react with the CaCO3 to give FeCO3 and CaSO4 (2 insoluble products). The calcium phosphate may do something similar.
The Fe++ will probably be oxidised to Fe+++ by air as well.

I'm afraid those pills really aren't a good place to start.
Dilute sulphuric and steel wool is a much better bet. The hydrogen drives the air out of solution so there's less oxidation (and the oxidation is less of a problem in acid conditions).

Copper sulphate and steel wool works too if you don't want to play with acid.

[Edited on 23-6-2006 by unionised]

Zinc - 9-7-2006 at 12:23

Quote:
Originally posted by woelen
especially the halogens are really bad on them.


I and my friedn once filled a 500 ml flask with chlorine (we didn't drie it) and closed it with a rubber stopper. 30 min. after that the part of the rubber stopper that was in contact with chlorine turned from brown (the original color) to white:o.