What are the differences between EDTA K2 and EDTA K3 in Applications

Today, in the field of in vitro diagnostics, there are many kinds of blood anticoagulants, among which EDTA K2 and EDTA K3 are more common. Their basic anticoagulation principle is to use EDTA to chelate calcium ions in the blood, thereby preventing blood coagulation. Are there any differences between the two?

1. Different appearance

Both are white powders, but in comparison, the powder of EDTA K3 is finer, and the effect of dissolving in water is also better, but this effect cannot be observed by the naked eye, and the comparison in the experimental effect is still very obvious.

2. Different chemical structures

The biggest difference between the two in chemical structure is that K3 has one more potassium ion than K2, which causes the pH of the two solutions to be different. The pH of EDTA K2 needs to be controlled in a weakly acidic environment of 2.7-6.2, and the pH of its aqueous solution is around 4.8, while the pH of EDTA K3 needs to be controlled in a weakly alkaline environment of 6.2-10.2, and the pH of its aqueous solution is around 7.5. Therefore, the pH value of EDTA-K3 will be higher, and the solubility of EDTA K3 is greater than that of EDTA K2 in terms of solubility.

3.The usage is different

In terms of use, EDTA K2 is more widely used than EDTA K3. EDTA K2 can not only be used for anticoagulation in blood collection tubes, complex metals and metal separation, but also often used in detergents, liquid soaps and shampoos. and sprays, while EDTA K3 can only be used for blood anticoagulation unilaterally.

In addition, for blood anticoagulation, EDTA K2 is used more, because once the EDTA concentration becomes stronger, EDTA K3 is more likely to cause red blood cells to shrink than EDTA K2. When the blood sample is placed for a period of time, EDTA K3 is more likely to lead to increased cell size. At the same time, it should be noted that although both of them are used for blood anticoagulation, they are also different in the use of blood collection tubes. EDTA K3 presents a liquid state in the glass tube of blood collection tubes, while the plastic tube is the same as EDTA. K2 is the same spray-dried state.

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