Potentiometric Studies on Complexation of Cu(II) Ion with Methyl/Nitro-Substituted 1,10-Phenanthrolines and Selected Amino Acids

Protonation constants of methyl/nitro substituted 1,10-phenanthrolines {(m/n-sphen): 4-methyl-phenanthroline (4-mphen), 5-methyl-1,10-phenanthroline (5-mphen), 4,7-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline (dmphen), 3,4,7,8-tetramethyl-1,10-phenanthroline (tmphen) and 5-nitro-1,10-phenanthroline (5-nphen)] and the amino acids (aa) l-tyrosine (tyr) and glycine (gly), and their corresponding binary and ternary stability constants with Cu(II), were determined in aqueous 0.1 mol·L^?1 KCl ionic media at 298.15 K. The protonation constants of the ligands and the stability constants of the binary and ternary complexes of Cu(II) with the ligands were calculated from the potentiometric data using the “BEST” software package. The species distribution diagrams were obtained using the “SPE” software package under the experimental conditions described. The order of stability of the ternary complexes in terms of the primary ligands is [Cu(tmphen)(aa)]⁺ > [Cu(dmphen)(aa)]⁺ > [Cu(4-mphen)(aa)]⁺ > [Cu(5-mphen)(aa)]⁺ > [Cu(5-nphen)(aa)]⁺. The stability constants of the ternary complexes decrease in the following order: [Cu(m/n-sphen)(gly)]⁺ > [Cu(m/n-sphen)(tyr)]⁺, which is identical to the sequence found for the binary complexes of Cu(II) with gly and tyr.