Tags: Chemical Compound, Chemical Substance.
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 Ca2+ and Fe3+.
