Speciation studies of ternary complexes of some essential divalent metal ions with L-histidine and L-glutamic acid in DMSO-water mixtures

Chemical speciation of ternary complexes of Ca(II), Mg(II) and Zn(II) ions with L-histidine as the primary ligand (L) and L-glutamic acid as the secondary ligand (X) has been studied pH metrically in the concentration range of 0.0-60.0% v/v DMSO-water mixtures maintaining an ionic strength of 0.16 mol L-1 using sodium chloride at 303.0 K. Titrations were carried out in different relative concentrations (M:L:X = 1.0:2.5:2.5, 1.0:2.5:5.0, 1.0:5.0:2.5) of metal (M) to L-histidine to L-glutamic acid with sodium hydroxide. Stability constants of ternary complexes were refined with MINIQUAD75. The best-fit chemical models were selected based on statistical parameters and residual analysis. The predominant species detected for Ca(II), Mg(II) and Zn(II) are ML2XH2, MLXH2 and MLX2. Extra stability of ternary complexes compared to their binary complexes was explained to be due to electrostatic interactions of the side chains of ligands, charge neutralisation, chelate effect, stacking interactions and hydrogen bonding. The species distribution with pH at different compositions of DMSO and the plausible equilibria for the formation of species are discussed.