ASSESSMENT UPON CHARACTERISTICS OF CONSTRUCTED L-ASCORBIC ACID/MONTMORILLONITE COMPOSITE

This study constructs new L-ascorbic acid (LAA) composites in low toxicity and high stability for feasible application. Although literature reveals that sodium thiosulphate could stabilize the activity of LAA, our findings show that the significant toxicity was provoked by sodium thiosulphate. A safe and non-toxic material montmorillonite (MMT) was thus used to attenuate this toxicity and to sustain the stability of composites with economic feasibility for practical use. As the proton released from LAA promots the increases of interlayer spacing of clay layers in MMT, the formation of stable and safe LAA composites resulted. The most feasible were found to be the composites [ MMT + 10% LAA + 0.90% Na 2 S 2 O 3 ] and [ MMT + 5% LAA + 1.35% Na 2 S 2 O 3 ].