Iron Determination by Ferrozine Method

Abstract

In this laboratory exercise, ferrozine is reacted with ferrous iron to form a complex that can be used to measure ferrous iron in an ashed meat sample. The absorbance of the ferrozine-ferrous iron complex follows Beer’s Law, so a standard curve is generated with a stock iron solution to quantify the mineral. The meat samples are first ashed to dissociate the iron bound to proteins, the ash residue is solubilized in dilute HCl, then the ferrozine complexes only with ferrous iron, and not with ferric iron.