Inorganic Ions

Inorganic ions like iron (Fe2+), calcium (Ca2+), magnesium (Mg2+) and phosphate (PO₄^3-) are key components of molecules in living things. Here are a few examples of where they can be found and what their role is within plants.

Calcium ions have a key role in calcium pectate which I have just googled. I’m afraid what I found is far too hilarious to ignore:

“Calcium pectate, a pectin fiber that adds crispness to fruits and vegetables, also has potent cholesterol-lowering properties.”

Crispness. There you go. Crunchy kale. Crisp apples. Tooth-chipping swede. Crunch.

Anyway, back to the calcium pectate. The calcium ions bind to pectin (a carbohydrate) in plant cell walls creating a pectate salt, and contribute to its strength and stability. It’s present in all fruit and vegetables.

Magnesium ions are central to photosynthesis in plants because they are a constituent of chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is the pigment that enables the use of light in extracting chemical energy from water (water and carbon dioxide are used in photosynthesis to make glucose).

Spot magnesium right at the heart of it?

Haemoglobin which is a good friend circling oxygen round the bod for max performance and non-dead status has iron ions at its core to actually bind the oxygen. Apparently we have an inch of an iron nail’s worth of iron in our body? BOO YAH IT’S ‘APPENIN.

Righty, onto our last superstar inorganic ion of the day: phosphate. Phosphate is a key part of ATP and ADP (adenosine triphosphate and its dephosphorylated sibling, adenosine diphosphate).

Now you haven’t yet been introduced to this usual suspect – rude. ATP has energy in its third phosphate group, which is always broken to release it. This happens all the time and makes ATP the energy currency of living systems. During cellular respiration, ADP receives the energy back to make more ATP and the cycle goes on.

Ok byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee