Metal complexes of black wattle tannins and related model polyphenols

Abstract

Apart from their general usage as tanning agents for hides and skins, the natural tannins have been used since earliest times for various other purposes. The blue-black iron tannate complex was used by ancient Egyptians as a hairdye and for many conturies this complex was the main source of writing inks. Wattle tannin is known to form complexes with many metal ions. The chief use of tannin complexes has been in gravimetric analyses, since aqueous solutions of tannins readily precipitate metal ions under certain experimentel conditions. At the present time the nature of the precipitated complexes has not been investigated however, because in the gravimetric method the complexes are ignited and the metal determined as its oxide; hence no knowledge of the complexes themselves was required.