Summary Preparations of the previously unreported, water-soluble, tetraguanidinium, tetracholine and tetrakisbenzyltrimethylammonium ellagates are outlined. Ellagic acid and these water-soluble salts remove Mg2+, Ca2+ and Mn2+ ions from dilute aqueous solutions at pH greater than 7. The salts also remove Fe2+, Fe3+, Co2+ and Cu2+ between pH 3 and pH 6. At pH 1 the water-soluble ellagates underwent hydrolysis, resulting in the precipitation of free ellagic acid in preference to the formation of metal-ellagate complexes. These trends were also observed when mixtures of metal ions were applied.