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Phosphate

Phosphates are polyatomic ions that consist of one phosphorus atom and four oxygen atoms. This is the naturally occurring form of the element phosphorus. In biology, phosphates are critical for the creation and functioning of DNA and RNA.

Phosphate can have four different basic forms in aqueous solutions, depending on whether the solution is a base or an acid:

* Strongly basic solutions: PO₄^3-
* Weakly basic conditions: HPO₄^2-
* Weakly acid conditions: H₂PO₄^-
* Strongly acid conditions: H₃PO₄(aq)

In addition, these basic forms of phosphate can form polymeric ions like diphosphate, triphosphate, and others.

In biology, phosphates are generally found bound into ATP or DNA or RNA.

Phosphate is critical in the fertilization of soil, most likely because of these critical functions at a cellular level. But phosphates that have been leached from soils by flooding or just day to day farming can wash into the oceans and seas, causing a higher concentration of phosphate than is desirable and causing eutrophication (algal bloom, most commonly red tide), which removes oxygen from the water and suffocates other marine life.

Web Resources On Phosphate

Florida Institute of Phosphate Research
Phospholipid Synthesis

Book Resources On Phosphate

The Chemistry of Phosphate and Nitrogen Compounds in Sediments by Han L. Golterman
Regulation of Phosphate and Mineral Metabolism by International Workshop on Phosphate and Other Minerals 1981

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