Electrometric Investigation of the Nature and Stability of Mixed Ligand Complexes of L-Ornithine and 1,10-Phenanthroline With Some Essential Metal Ions in Aqua-TBAB or PEG-400 Surfactant

Background Despite the availability of information about the effect of aqua-surfactants media on the stability of binary complexes, data related to mixed ligand complexes of Phen and Orn with essential metals in aqua-surfactant medium is scarce. The aim of this study was, to determine the stabilities of the mixed ligand complexes of essential metal ions (Co2+, Ni2+, Cu2+) with Phen and Orn in aqua-TBAB and PEG-400 surfactants with an eye on the prediction of the bioavailability of the metal complexes. Results Complexes of some essential metal (M) ions (Co2+, Ni2+, Cu2+) of L-ornithine (L) and 1,10-phenanthroline (X) ligands in various concentrations (0.0–2.5% v/v) of aqueous tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB) or polyethylene glycol-400 (PEG-400) surfactant were synthesized pH-metrically at 298 K and 0.16 mol L− 1 ionic strength. The relative amounts of L:M:X were 2.5:1.0:2.5; 5.0:1.0:2.5; 2.5:1.0:5.0. The data acquisition of acid-base equilibria and determination of stability constants were performed using MINIQUAD75 algorithm. The distribution patterns of the complexes with varying pH and compositions of surfactants were presented from the plots of SIM run data. Conclusions The best fit chemical models were found to be MLXH, MLX2H in the lower pH, and MLX, ML2X in the higher pH ranges for all the metals. The logged values of stability constants decreased linearly with increasing concentrations of surfactants, indicating the dominance of electrostatic factors. The log of the disproportionation constant and the change in log values of the mixed ligand constant indicated additional stability of the mixed ligand complexes, compared to the parent binary complexes due to interactions outside the coordination sphere. This makes the mixed ligand complexes more amenable to metal ion storage and transport and threw light to have information on the less stable binary complexes easily bioavailability while the mixed ligand complexes could be stored and transported in the bio-fluids. Significant change on the magnitudes of the stability constants, high values of standard deviation and rejection of some of the proposed chemical models were observed due to pessimistic error, indicating the sufficiency of the models to represent the data and accuracy of the method employed.