Complex Equilibria and Distribution of Metal (II) Ions with Biologically Active Chelating Agents in Aqueous and Aqueous-organic Media

An understanding of the principles of complex equilibria and species distribution in different solutions is important in expounding and correlating the interaction of different ligands with different metal ions in complex formation. Therefore, acid-base equilibria involved in the formation of binary and ternary complexes of Co (II), Cu (II) and Pb (II) with methionine (Met) and uracil (Urc) have been determined by potentiometric titration technique. The stability constants of the complexes were evaluated at 35 ± 0.1°C and 0.02 M ionic strength (kept constant with NaNO3) in aqueous and organic-aqueous media. The species distribution in solutions as a function of pH was determined using the Hyss program. The stability of the ternary complexes relative to the corresponding binary complexes of the secondary ligand is measured in terms ΔlogK and % RS values. The ternary complexes are observed to be more stable than binary complexes in the media except for [CuMetUrc] ternary complex in organic-aqueous medium where the ternary complex is less stable than the binary complex of the uracil. The overall stability of the ternary complexes was higher in organic-aqueous system than aqueous system. The stability of the complexes was found to be correlated with the covalent index of the metal ions and Jahn Teller distortion. pH-studies of these systems revealed an increase in the concentrations of the ternary complexes with increase in pH. The formation of binary complexes was shown to be favoured in physiological pH range (3-7) while that of the ternary complexes is observed to be favoured in the pH range 5-10.