As the formed clusters and particles were polydisperse (>30% in some cases), cluster sizes derived from DLS are only interpreted as trends (van Leeuwen et al., 2012b). Samples were dried on a carbon-coated copper grid prior to transmission electron microscopy (TEM) performed on a Tecnai 12 or scanning electron

microscopy (SEM) using a Phenom scanning electron microscope, both from FEI Company. All samples for spectrophotometry were prepared to contain the same concentration of iron (0.7 mM). Samples were diluted to the correct concentration prior to analysis. All systems were at or close to pH 5 after dilution. Excess gallic acid (3.5 mM) was added and the cuvette sealed air-tight for spectrophotometry

using a Perkin-Elmer Lambda-35 spectrophotometer. Samples were thermostated at 23 °C and magnetically stirred during spectrophotometry. The influence PS341 of (a change in) sample Erastin molecular weight turbidity on the absorbance was countered by using the dispersion at the same concentration but without gallic acid as reference. The gallic acid addition and vial sealing could not be done inside the spectrophotometer while the measurement was running. Therefore, the blanks were placed first and the samples with gallic acid were then prepared in quick succession. No more than two samples with gallic acid were analysed during a single experiment, so that the time between addition of gallic acid and the first measurement was never more than a few seconds. The preparation of metal pyrophosphate particles by coprecipitation of the precursor salts has been previously investigated Selleck Hydroxychloroquine (van Leeuwen et al., 2012a and van Leeuwen et al., 2012c). While this method

resulted in stable colloidal dispersions of iron pyrophosphate (FePPi), it was shown that pyrophosphate coprecipitated with a divalent metal (M2+PPi) in general formed particles that were too large to remain in suspension. Furthermore, stable dispersions of mixed systems were only prepared at a high iron content (>80%) (van Leeuwen et al., 2012c), while a lower iron content was preferable in order to reduce the reactivity of the contained iron. Preparation by coprecipitation of pure FePPi or mixed systems at a low M (Na or M2+) content resulted in clusters of small, amorphous particles, shown in Fig. 1a and observed previously (van Leeuwen et al., 2012c). The FePPi-zein preparation method yielded polydisperse particles of around 150 nm containing the insoluble salt as can be observed in Fig. 1b. An empty zein particle is shown for reference in Fig. 1c. Due to the fact that coprecipitation by slow addition is an ill-defined method of preparation, this study also used pH-dependent precipitation as a more controlled way of preparing M2+PPi particles.