A Conductometric Study of Complexation Reactions Between Dibenzo-18-Crown-6 (DB18C6) with Cu2+, Zn2+, Tl+ and Cd2+ Metal Cations in Dimethylsulfoxide–Ethylacetate Binary Mixtures

The complex formation between Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺, Tl⁺ and Cd²⁺ metal cations with macrocyclic ligand, dibenzo- 18-crown-6 (DB18C6) was studied in dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO)–ethylacetate (EtOAc) binary systems at different temperatures using conductometric method. In all cases, DB18C6 forms 1:1 complexes with these metal cations. The stability constants of the complexes were obtained from fitting of molar conductivity curves using a computer program, Genplot. The non-linear behaviour which was observed for variations of log K _f of the complexes versus the composition of the mixed solvent was discussed in terms of changing the chemical and physical properties of the constituent solvents when they mix with one another and, therefore, changing the solvation capacities of the metal cations, crown ether molecules and even the resulting complexes with changing the mixed solvent composition. The results show that the selectivity order of DB18C6 for the metal cations in pure ethylacetate and pure dimethylsulfoxide is: Tl⁺ > Cu²⁺ > Zn²⁺ > Cd²⁺ but the selectivity order is changed with the composition of the mixed solvents. The values of enthalpy changes (ΔH°_C) for complexation reactions were obtained from the slope of the van’t Hoff plots and the changes in standard enthalpy (ΔS°_C) were calculated from the relationship: ΔG°_C,298.15=ΔH°_C − 298.15 ΔS°_C. The obtained results show that in most cases, the complexes are enthalpy stabilized, but entropy destabilized and the values of ΔH°_C and ΔS°_C depend strongly on the nature of the medium.