Aminodiacetic water-soluble polymer-metal ion interactions

The retention properties for metal ions, the maximum retention capacity, the antibacterial and mutagenic activity of water-soluble metal ion complexes from water-soluble poly[2-hydroxy-(3-methacryloyloxypropyl)aminodiacetic acid] P(HMPADA) were studied. HMPADA was synthesized by radical polymerization in aqueous solution. The water-soluble polymer (WSP) P(HMPADA), containing ester, hydroxy, tertiary amine, and two carboxylic acid groups in every monomeric unit was investigated as polychelatogen in view of its potential metal ion binding properties using the liquid-phase polymer based retention (LPR) technique under different experimental conditions. The water-soluble complexes were investigated as biocides. Metal ions investigated at pH 3, 5, and 7 were: Ag⁺, Co²⁺, Ni²⁺, Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺, Cd²⁺, Pb²⁺, Al³⁺, Cr³⁺, and Fe³⁺. Depending on pH, P(HMPADA) showed a different interaction affinity, where the highest interaction occurred at pH 7. Polymer-metal ion interaction showed the following affinity order: tri-valent >di-valent >mono-valent ion. Maximum retention capacity (MRC) ranged between 17.2 and 342.2 mg metal ion/g polymer for Cu²⁺ and Ag⁺, respectively. FT-IR showed a variation in νCO, νΟ−CO, νOH absorption signals, and Far-IR showed new signals corresponding to metal-O and metal-N interaction, indicating a participation of carboxylic acid, amine, and hydroxy groups of polymer-metal ion complexes. Antibacterial activity of Ag⁺, Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺, and Cd²⁺ complexes were studied. These complexes presented a higher biocide activity against Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive) than for Escherichia coli (Gram-negative) with a lowest minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 4 mg/mL for polymer-Cd²⁺ complex. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed the interaction between polymer-metal ion complexes and bacteria surface. All samples showed low genotoxic activity.     

Effects of added metal ions on the interaction between polyvinylpyrrolidone and azo dyes carrying hydroxyl groups

The extent of binding of chrome violet, which is a monoazo dye and involves two hydroxyl groups in o and o′ positions to azo group, by polyvinylpyrrolidone is markedly enhanced in the presence of Co²⁺ ion. The amount of binding in the presence of 1 × 10^?4 mol/L of Co²⁺ ion increases by a factor of about 10 compared to that in the absence of the metal ion. Ni²⁺ and Zn²⁺ ions do not perceptively influence the binding affinity of the dye. Cu²⁺ ion, in contrast, suppresses the binding. To investigate further the action of added metal ions, a cobalt–complex dye was prepared and its binding property for the polymer was compared to that of chrome violet in the presence of metal ions. Some possible mechanisms for the enhancement of chrome violet binding by the addition of Co²⁺ ion are described.     

Control of a photoswitching chelator by metal ions: DFT,NBO, and QTAIM analysis

Ability of aroylhydrazones to change conformation upon interaction with light makes them promising candidates for molecular switches. Isomerization can be controlled through complexation with selected metal ions which bind with different affinity. N′‐[1‐(2‐hydroxyphenyl)ethyliden]iso‐nicotinoylhydrazide (HAPI) is an example of a dual‐wavelenght photoswitching molecule, whose complexation with metal ions was recently experimentally investigated (Franks et al. J. Inorg. Chem. 2014, 53, 1397). In this contribution, complexes between HAPI and K⁺, Ca²⁺, Mn²⁺, Fe²⁺, Fe³⁺, Cu⁺, Cu²⁺, and Zn²⁺ ions were investigated using Density Functional Theory, Natural Bond Order analysis, and Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules. The most important parameters that determine complex stability are found to be ion radius and charge transferred from ligands to the ion: smaller ion radii and larger CT values characterize formation of more stable complexes. Our results explain experimentally observed effect of different metal ions on photoisomerization through determination of metal ion affinity (MIA): photoisomerization is inhibited if MIA exceeds 100 kcal/mol; for MIA between 50 and 100 kcal/mol excess of metal ions prevents isomerization, whereas in case of MIA below 50 kcal/mol metal ions have no influence on light–HAPI interaction. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Luminescence Method for Studying the Formation and Stability of Macromolecular Complexes of Transition Metals with Carboxyl-Containing Polymers in Organic Solvents

Quenching of the luminescence of carboxyl-containing polymer molecules containing a luminescent marker by transition metal ions (Cu²⁺, Ni²⁺) is observed not only in aqueous and aqueous-salt solutions, but also in polar organic solvents (methanol, ethanol, dimethylformamide). In dilute solutions, quenching refl ects binding of metal ions with the polymer and changes in the degree of filling of the polymer carboxyl groups with transition metal ions quenching the luminescence. The equilibrium stability constant of the formed macromolecular metal complex in organic media can be quantitatively estimated from the quenching effect using the relationships that follow from the law of mass action. The formation and stability of Cu²⁺ and Ni²⁺ complexes with polymethacrylic acid in protic (methanol, ethanol) and aprotic (dimethylformamide) solvents at low polymer concentrations (0.4–0.02 mg mL^–1) were studied using the quenching effect. In methanol, in contrast to ethanol and dimethylformamide, two mechanisms of binding of transition metal ions with different equilibrium stability constants of the complexes (\({K_{{1^{st}}}}\) > 3 × 10⁹ and \({K_{{2^{st}}}}\) ≈ 10⁶–10⁴) were revealed. The infl uence exerted on the stability of the complexes and on the complexation mechanism by the nature and acidity of the organic solvent, polymer concentration, kind of the transition metal ion quenching the luminescence, and NaOH and HCl additions was studied. The results obtained demonstrate the efficiency of the luminescence method used and prospects for its further use for studying polymer systems containing transition metal ions in organic solvents.     

Ultrafiltration of Polymer-Metal Complexes for Metal Ion Removal from Wastewaters

Summary: A case-study using macromolecular metal complexes is described. The results of a process named Polymer Assisted Ultrafiltration (PAUF) for ion removal from various types of waters is reported. The water soluble polymers such as polyetilenimine (PEI), polyacrylic acid (PAA), polyacrylic acid sodium salt (PAASS) and poly(dimethylamine–co–epichlorohydrin–co–ethylenediamine) (PDEHED) as chelating agents, the Cu²⁺ as model ion and five ultrafiltration membranes have been used. The complexing agents were previously tested to establish the binding capacity and the best operating conditions for the process. Among the tested polymers the PEI appeared the most interesting one because its binding mechanism does not involve a counter ion release. It was tested in the simulation of wastewaters treatment containing the Cu²⁺ ion chelated with citric acid; this is a problem of interest in the recycling of water from soil washing operations. The polyethylenimine quantitatively bound the copper-citrate chelate at pH 5.5 and the three component complex was separated by UF membranes producing a permeate with very low metal concentration. The polymer regeneration was carried out with good results by operating with the diafiltration method. The copper ion present in the diafiltration permeate in a form chelated with citric acid was recovered by oxidising the citrate in a membrane photoreactor. The positive results of the described case-study show that Macromolecule-Metal Complexes play a key role for running effectively and selectively the PAUF process for removing metal ions from various type of waters.     

Bile acid based receptors for multiple metal ion recognition

A series of bile acid based receptors having triazole unit along with some additional heteroatom containing moieties as coordinating units for transition metal ion recognition has been synthesized. The UV–Vis studies revealed that these receptors show significant multiple binding affinity for Hg²⁺, Cd²⁺, Pb²⁺ and Cu²⁺ ions.     

Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Metal Ion Binding to the His‐tag Motif

In our previous study, we have observed that the chelation of various metal ions to the His‐tag motifs mostly involves the i and i+2 His residues for Ni²⁺, Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺ and Co²+. In the present study, various 200 ps molecular dynamics simulations were further conducted to investigate the chelating pathway of various metal ions to the His‐tag motif with 6 His residues (His‐tag6) and the binding affinities of these metal binding pockets towards these metal ions. The results indicate that His‐tag6 with the chelated metal ion located in positions His(2,4) or His(3,5) exhibits the strongest affinity for Ni²+ and Cu²+.K⁺ was found to be preferred to chelate in His(1,3) and His(3,5) coordinations. However, Fe³+ was found to have higher affinity towards His(1,3) and His(2,4) binding pockets. Our results also suggest that Ni²⁺ exhibits the highest binding affinity towards His‐tag6 over the other metal ions. Most of the structural variations of the His‐tag6 motif were from the Histidyl side chains during metal ion binding. In addition, there is an inverse linear correlation between the final chelated distance and the charge/volume ratio of metal ion. There is a negative correlation between the metal binding affinity and the averaged potential energy generated from the MD simulations.     

Studies on the equilibrium among poly(sodium 4‐styrenesulfonate), Cu2+, and iminodiacetic acid by ultrafiltration at constant ionic strength

The ultrafiltration technique evaluates the interactions of water‐soluble polymers with metal ions. Aqueous solutions containing poly(sodium 4‐styrenesulfonate) (PSS), Cu(NO₃)₂, NaNO₃, and iminodiacetic acid (IDAA) are examined by this technique. Cu²⁺ undergoes complex formation with IDAA and intreracts electrostatically with PSS. On the other hand, Na⁺ ions are in competition with Cu²⁺ for the electrostatic binding to PSS. The solutions are ultrafiltered keeping the ionic strength constant, so their compositions are allowed to change continuously. The concentration of Cu²⁺ bound to the polymer showed an exponential decay during filtration. The concentration of Cu²⁺ bound to the polymer before ultrafiltration is calculated by extrapolation. The concentration of the different species in solution is proposed as a function of the filtration factor. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 40: 2587–2593, 2002     

Complexation of poly(ethyleneimine) with copper(II) and nickel(II) ions in 0.5 M KNO3 solution

Complexation of poly(ethyleneimine) (PEI) with copper(II) and nickel(II) ions was studied in a 0.5M aqueous KNO₃ solution. The potentiometrically determined logarithm of the three successive formation constants (log k_J) were 8.14, 7.96, and 7.37 for Cu⁺²-PEI complexation and 6.74, 6.52, and 6.23 for Ni⁺²–PEI complexation at 25°C, according to Bjerrum's modified method. The maximum average coordination number was 3.2 for the Cu⁺²–PEI system and 3.7 for the Ni⁺²–PEI system. An entropy effect was observed in the third coordination. The wavelengths of maximum absorption of the complexes and the continuous variation method showed that at least two coordination sites of Cu⁺² ion and three coordination sites of Ni⁺² ion were occupied immediately by PEI as the solutions of PEI and the metal ions were mixed.     

A Highly Copper‐Selective Ratiometric Fluorescent Sensor Based on BODIPY

A new ratiometric fluorescent sensor ( 1 ) for Cu²⁺ based on 4,4‐difluoro‐4‐bora‐3a,4a‐diaza‐s‐indacene (BODIPY) with di(2‐picolyl)amine (DPA) as ion recognition subunit has been synthesized and investigated in this work. The binding abilities of 1 towards different metal ions such as alkali and alkaline earth metal ions (Na⁺, K⁺, Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺) and other metal ions ( Ba²⁺, Zn²⁺, Cd²⁺, Fe²⁺, Fe³⁺, Pb²⁺, Ni²⁺, Co²⁺, Hg²⁺, Ag⁺) have been examined by UV‐vis and fluorescence spectroscopies. 1 displays high selectivity for Cu²⁺ among all test metal ions and a ～10‐fold fluorescence enhancement in I₅₈₂/I₅₅₈ upon excitation at visible excitation wavelength. The binding mode of 1 and Cu²⁺ is a 1:1 stoichiometry determined via studies of Job plot, the nonlinear fitting of the fluorometric titration and ESI mass.     

New generation of functionalized bipyrazolic tripods: synthesis and study of their coordination properties towards metal cations

A simple and easily synthesis of new generation of N-donor bipyrazolic tripods by coupling of functionalized pyrazole derivatives and an appropriate primary amine derivative via condensation or nucleophilic substitution reaction is presented. The complexation capacity of these compounds towards bivalent metal ions (Hg²⁺, Cu²⁺, Pb²⁺, Cd²⁺) and alkaline metal ions (Li⁺, Na⁺, K⁺) were investigated using the liquid–liquid extraction process. The percentage limits of extraction were determined by atomic absorption measurements.     

Photophysical and Complexation Behavior of (4-Dimethylamino-benzylidene)-(4,6-dimethyl-pyrimidin-2-yl)-amine

The absorption and fluorescence characteristics of (4‐dimethylamino‐benzylidene)‐(4,6‐dimethyl‐pyrimidin‐2‐yl)‐amine (SB) have been investigated in different solvents. Both the absorption and emission spectra of SB exhibit red shifts as the solvent polarity increases. This indicats a change in dipole moment of molecules upon excitation as a result of intramolecular charge transfer interaction. The fluorescence quantum yield depends strongly on the properties of the solvents, which was discussed on the bases of positive and negative solvatokinetic effects. The effect of some divalent transition metal ions such as Mn²⁺, Co²⁺, Ni²⁺, Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺, Cd²⁺, and Hg²⁺on the absorption and fluorescence spectra of SB is also investigated. The results were consistent with formation of highly colored metal‐ SB complex which is responsible for the extreme quenching of the fluorescence of SB. The variations of both the formation constant of the complex and Stern‐Volmer constant were correlated with the electronic structure of the used metal ion.     

L‐lysine and EDTA polymer mimics as resins for the quantitative and reversible removal of heavy metal ion water pollutants

Traditional precipitation methods for inorganic micropollutant removal from waters are increasingly being replaced by sorption methods based on both natural and synthetic materials. In this context, two novel effective heavy metal ions absorbers are presented. These resins, LYMA and LMT85, were crosslinked poly(amidoamine)s carrying amine and carboxyl groups in their repeating units. In particular, the LYMA‐repeating unit contains one carboxyl and two amine groups and is a mimic of L ‐lysine, whereas LMT85 contains two amine and five carboxyl groups and is a mimic of EDTA. Both resins were prepared at moderate cost by simple eco‐friendly procedures. The heavy metal ion set adopted as benchmark was Cu²⁺, Cd²⁺, Pb²⁺, Zn²⁺, Ni²⁺, and Co²⁺. LYMA proved selective for Cu²⁺ and Ni²⁺, the other ions tested being negligibly absorbed, whereas LMT85 proved capable of rapidly and quantitatively absorbing all the ions tested either singly or in mixed solution. The absorption process was reversible, and the resins were easily regenerated by acidification. The absorption of several metal ions imparted intense coloring to the resins, a feature possibly exploitable for analytical purposes. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

Metal‐Ion‐Mediated Tuning of Duplex DNA Binding by Bis(2‐(2‐pyridyl)‐1H‐benzimidazole)

Studies of double‐stranded‐DNA binding have been performed with three isomeric bis(2‐(n‐pyridyl)‐1H‐benzimidazole)s (n=2, 3, 4). Like the well‐known Hoechst 33258, which is a bisbenzimidazole compound, these three isomers bind to the minor groove of duplex DNA. DNA binding by the three isomers was investigated in the presence of the divalent metal ions Mg²⁺, Co²⁺, Ni²⁺, Cu²⁺, and Zn²⁺. Ligand–DNA interactions were probed with fluorescence and circular dichroism spectroscopy. These studies revealed that the binding of the 2‐pyridyl derivative to DNA is dramatically reduced in the presence of Co²⁺, Ni²⁺, and Cu²⁺ ions and is abolished completely at a ligand/metal‐cation ratio of 1:1. Control experiments done with the isomeric 3‐ and 4‐pyridyl derivatives showed that their binding to DNA is unaffected by the aforementioned transition‐metal ions. The ability of 2‐(2‐pyridyl)benzimidazole to chelate metal ions and the conformational changes of the ligand associated with ion chelation probably led to such unusual binding results for the ortho isomer. The addition of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) reversed the effects completely.     

Regulation of metal ion recognition by allosteric effects in thiacalix[4]crown based receptors

Three new ditopic receptors 3a-c based on thiacalix[4]arene of 1,3 alternate conformation possessing two different complexation sites have been designed and synthesized for both soft and hard metal ions. The imino nitrogens bind soft metal ion (Ag⁺/Pb²⁺/Cu²⁺) and the crown moiety binds K⁺ ion. The preliminary investigations show that 3a-c behave as ditopic receptors for Ag⁺/K⁺, Pb²⁺/K⁺, and Cu²⁺/K⁺ ions, respectively. In all the three receptors it was observed that the formation of 3a·Ag⁺/3b·Pb²⁺/3c·Cu²⁺ complex triggers the decomplexation of K⁺ ion from crown moiety and acts as a gateway, which regulates the binding of alkali metal to crown moiety. Thus, allosteric binding between metal ions ‘switch off’ the recognition ability of crown ether ring.     

Simultaneous voltammetric analysis of lead,copper and mercury ions by carbon paste electrode based on 1-(3-aminopropyl) imidazole modified polymer

In this study, a carbon paste electrode modified with a novel 1-(3-aminopropyl) imidazole functionalised crosslinked chlorosulfonated poly(styrene)-divinyl benzene polymer was used for selective and sensitive determination of the trace amounts of Pb²⁺, Cu²⁺ and Hg²⁺ ions by square wave anodic stripping voltammetry. The effect of some parameters such as paste composition, pH, preconcentration time, reduction potential and time, type of supporting electrolyte and potential scan rate on the determination of metal ions were investigated to find the optimal conditions. The effective open-circuit accumulation of the studied metal ions was succeeded only by the modification of the carbon paste electrode with functional polymer. For 6 min open-circuit preconcentration, the detection limit of Pb²⁺, Cu²⁺ and Hg²⁺ was found to be 5, 9 and 14 µgL^?1, respectively at 100 mVs^?1. The results confirmed that the lower concentration levels of these trace metal ions can be determined with the increase of preconcentration time and/or potential scan rate. Good detection limits and large dynamic concentration ranges were also obtained for their binary and ternary mixtures. The optimised method was successively applied to determine the concentration of Pb²⁺, Cu²⁺ ions in the tap water sample and Cu²⁺ ion in the waste water sample in the presence of possible interfering species (RSD<1%, recoveries 96–110% for 4 min preconcentration).     

New insights into the anti-hepatoma mechanism of Alisol G-metal ions complexes based on c-myc DNA

This study investigated the anti-hepatoma molecular mechanism of Alisol G, which is an effective component of the Chinese medicine Alisma orientalis, in the presence of metal ions Cu²⁺ and Fe³⁺ based on c-myc DNA. Here, a combination of Alisol G and metal ions (Cu²⁺, Fe³⁺) to augment anti-hepatoma efficiencies of Alisol G has been identified by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay. Network pharmacology revealed that c-myc DNA was the potential target of Alisol G with respect to its anti-hepatoma effects. By performing multi-spectroscopic analyses, we showed that the interaction of Alisol G with c-myc DNA was a process of static quenching. The binding constants and thermodynamic constants indicated that a 1:1 complex was formed between Alisol G and c-myc DNA. Moreover, metal ions strengthened the interaction between Alisol G and c-myc DNA. Molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation further unveiled that the higher binding affinity between Alisol G-Fe³⁺ complex and c-myc DNA as compared to Alisol G-Cu²⁺ complex. This probably resulted from the polarization of metal ions and the structural flexion of Alisol G. The C22-O31-H76 and C18-O32-H77 of Alisol G were key groups in the interaction with c-myc DNA. Addition of metal ion, had greatly changed the c-myc DNA-binding domain of Alisol G while didn’t affect the kinetic stability of the interaction, thus facilitating the insertion of Alisol G into c-myc DNA A-T base pair. Importantly, the DG113 of c-myc DNA was important for its binding to metal ions. Together, our findings suggested that Alisol G in combination with metal ions may be an efficient and promising option for the treatment of liver cancer.     

Metal Ion Removal from Aqueous Solution by Liquid Phase Polymer-Based Retention Technique

Summary: Water-soluble poly[3-(dimethylamino)propylacrylate] is synthesized by radical polymerization with a yield of 87%. The polymer structure is confirmed by FT-IR and ¹H-NMR spectroscopies. The polymer lost only 3% of weight up to 100 °C. The narrowest molecular weight distribution is observed with the fraction between 3,000 and 10,000 Da. P(DAPA) presents a high affinity for the metal ions Pb²⁺ and Cu²⁺, while the other metal ions are not significantly retained. By increasing the filtration factor, Z, metal ion affinity decreases, indicating a very weak ligand-metal interaction and the possibility of its destruction when washed with water at the filtration cell's pH. For Z = 10, the retention values of Pb²⁺ and Cu²⁺ at pH 5 are 76.5% and 48.5%, respectively, while the values for Cu²⁺ and Cd²⁺ at pH 7 are 89.5% and 40.4%, respectively.     

Influence of metal ions on the interaction between gatifloxacin and calf thymus DNA

To study the interaction between gatifloxacin (GT), metal ions (Cu²⁺, Cd²⁺, Co²⁺, Mg²⁺) and calf thymus DNA under condition of physiology pH, UV absorption and fluorescence methods were adopted. Result shows that metal ions and DNA are able to react with GT in ground state. In further research, by studying the influence of metal ions on binding of GT with DNA in metal ions–GT–DNA ternary system, we found that influential mechanism of Mg²⁺ on the binding of GT with DNA may be different from the other three. Mg²⁺ can act as a bridge in the binding of GT's carboxyl/carbonyl with DNA phosphate in certain concentration range; while Cu²⁺, Cd²⁺, Co²⁺ can combine directly with GT by reaction between GT carboxyl/carbonyl and DNA base, and enhance the binding ability of GT with DNA. The influence extent and type depend not only on the binding site of DNA with metal ions (phosphate or base), but also the binding ability of which. The stronger the binding ability of metal ions with DNA base is, the larger their promotion to binding of GT with DNA is. The order of metal ions’ influential ability on the binding of GT–DNA is identical to the binding ability order of metal ions with DNA base, that is: Cu²⁺ > Cd²⁺ > Co²⁺ > Mg²⁺.     

A stoichiometric imprinted chelating resin for selective recognition of copper(II) ions in aqueous media

This work reports the preparation of a new copper(II) ion-imprinted polymer (IIP) material, using 5,6;14,15-dibenzo-1,4-dioxa-8,12-diazacyclopentadecane-5,14-diene (DBDA15C4) and 2-vinylpyridine (VP) as a non-vinylated chelating agent and a functional vinyl monomer, respectively. The Cu²⁺ ion can form stable complexes with DBDA15C4 and VP. The stoichiometries of Cu²⁺-DBDA15C4 and ternary Cu²⁺-DBDA15C4-VP complexes were elucidated using conductometric and spectrophotometric methods, and found to be Cu²⁺(DBDA15C4), Cu²⁺(DBDA15C4)₂ and Cu²⁺(DBDA15C4)(VP)₂. The results obtained from solution studies were also supported by ab initio theoretical calculations. The resulting ternary complex Cu²⁺(DBDA15C4)(VP)₂ was copolymerized with ethyleneglycoldimethacrylate, as a cross-linking monomer, via bulk polymerization method. The imprinted copper ion was removed from the polymeric matrix by 0.1 M HNO₃. The Cu²⁺-imprinted polymer particles were characterized by IR spectroscopy and elemental analysis. Optimum pH range for rebinding of Cu²⁺ on the IIP and equilibrium binding time were 7.0-7.5 and 45 min, respectively. Sorbent capacity and enrichment factor for Cu²⁺ were obtained as 75.3 ± 1.9 μmol g⁻¹ and 100, respectively. In selectivity study, it was found that imprinting results in increased affinity of the material toward Cu²⁺ ion over other competitor metal ions with the same charge and close ionic radius. The prepared IIPs were repeatedly used and regenerated for five times without a significant decrease in polymer binding affinities.