Question

13. Oops. You just accidentally ingested a solution of mercury 2+ solution. You have to act fast. You whip out your handy CRC (next page) and search the shelf for possible antidotes. Which of the following would you choose to save yourself from a horrific death? Please explain your reasoning based on the information in the table

Stability Constants (log K1) of Various Metal Chelates from Chapter 6 - Sequestrants in Foods, by Thomas E. Furia, in CRC Handbook of Food Additives, 2nd ed. 1972 as revised by cited authors (where data shows a letter corresponding to citation at bottom of table)
Metal (to right) Ligand (below)	Al(III)	Ba	Ca	Co(II)	Cu	Fe(II)	Fe(III)	Hg(II)	Mg	Mn	Ni	Sr	Zn
Acetic acid		0.39	0.53	2.24				3.7	0.51		0.74	0.43	1.03
Citric acid	11.7e	2.3	3.5	4.4	6.1	3.2	11.85	10.9	2.8	3.2	4.8	2.8	4.5
Cysteine				9.3	19.2	6.2		14.4	< 4	4.1	10.4		9.8
Glyceric acid		0.80b	1.18b						0.86b			0.89b	1.80b
Glycine		0.77	1.43	5.23	8.22	4.3	10.0	10.3	3.45	3.2	6.1	0.91	5.16

Answer 1

The logarithm of stabilibility constants of Hg (II) with different ligands are provided. Higher the value of logk₁ ; lower will be the value of stability constants (k1) of the metal chelates.

Among the given ligands; logk value is the lowest for Hg (II) and acetic acid complex. So this complex will have the highest stability constant i.e the highest stability.

So; you have to choose acetic acid to make the Hg (II) chelate complex so that Hg (II) does not react further.