The adsorption isotherm of and the pH effect on the adsorption of myo-mositol hexaphosphate (myo-IP6) on amorphous aluminum hydroxide was investigated. It was found that the adsorption isotherm of myo-IP6 on aluminum hydroxide could be well fitted with the Freundlich isotherm. The amount of myo-IP6 adsorbed remained almost constant in the range of pH 4.0 to 7.0, but it decreased considerably as the initial pH was over 7. The adsorption of myo-IP6 resulted in an increase in the pH level due to the release of OH- ions, which suggested that the adsorption of myo-IP6 on aluminum hydroxide was caused by a ligand exchange reaction. ATR-FTIR analysis of myo-IP6 in solution and adsorbed on aluminum hydroxide at different pH were performed. The ATR-FTIR investigation indicated that myo-IP6 was adsorbed onto aluminum hydroxide by forming inner-sphere complexes and adsorption facilitated the deprotonation of phosphate groups. The asymmetric vibration of the P-O bond in =Al-PO3-appearing at a lower frequency than that in the terminal HPO3-indicated that Al bound to the 0 atom not as strongly as the H atom did. The ATR-FTIR investigation and theoretical calculation (with the Gaussian 03 program) revealed that three of the six phosphate groups in myo-IP6 molecules were bound to aluminum hydroxide while the other three remained free when myo-IP6 was adsorbed on aluminum hydroxide. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.