WHO INVENTED CHELATION?
The father of modern biochemistry was the French-Swiss chemist, Alfred Werner, who in 1893 developed the theory of coordination compounds, today referred to as chelates. For this turning point in reclassifying inorganic chemical compounds, Werner received the Nobel prize in 1913. He went on to create concepts accounting for the process by which metals bind to organic molecules – the basis for chelation chemistry. The first applications of Werner’s monumental discovery were in the field of industrial production. Starting in the 1920’s, many new materials, such as paints, were introduced, and in their manufacturing the elimination of heavy metal contamination was crucial. Citric acid was found to be helpful, but in the mid-1930’s Germany was motivated to develop its own chelating material and not be dependent on importing citric acid. The synthetic substance they invented was EDTA (ethylene-diamine-tetra-acetate). While creating EDTA for their own use, the Germans manufactured so much an
