What is wrong with aluminium? The J.D. Birchall Memorial Lecture.

Aluminium chemistry has features in common with two other groups of elements: (1) divalent magnesium and calcium, and (2) trivalent chromium and iron. The essential differences between the first group and aluminium are explored and it is shown that the much higher acidity of aluminium makes it such a powerful competitor for oxygen-donor ligands, opposite functions of both magnesium and calcium, in cells that its presence is damaging. By way of contrast aluminium is a weaker acid than ferric ions but it is more available. It was necessary for iron to be utilised in the presence of aluminium so special methods had to be devised to distinguish between them. In essence aluminium has always, throughout evolution, been a threat to the biological chemistry of all these three elements. We shall examine this chemistry and then explore the relationship of calcium and aluminium under acid rain conditions.