The protonation constants (
) of 3,6,9,15-tetraazabicyclo[9.3.1]pentadeca-1(15),11,13-triene-3,6,9-triacetic acid(PCTA) and stability constants of complexes formed between this pyridine-containing macrocycle and several differentmetal ions have been determined in 1.0 M KCl at 25
C and compared to previous literature values. The firstprotonation constant was found to be 0.5-0.6 log units higher than the value reported previously, and a total of fiveprotonation steps were detected (log
= 11.36, 7.35, 3.83, 2.12, and 1.29). The stability constants of complexesformed between PCTA and Mg
2+, Ca
2+, Cu
2+, and Zn
2+ were also somewhat higher than those previously reported,but this difference could be largely attributed to the higher first protonation constant of the ligand. Stability constantsof complexes formed between PCTA and the Ln
3+ series of ions and Y
3+ were determined by using an "out-of-cell"potentiometric method. These values ranged from log
K = 18.15 for Ce(PCTA) to log
K = 20.63 for Yb(PCTA),increasing along the Ln series in proportion to decreasing Ln
3+ cation size. The rates of complex formation forCe(PCTA), Eu(PCTA), Y(PCTA), and Yb(PCTA) were followed by conventional UV-vis spectroscopy in the pHrange 3.5-4.4. First-order rate constants (saturation kinetics) obtained for different ligand-to-metal ion ratios wereconsistent with the rapid formation of a diprotonated intermediate, Ln(H
2PCTA)
2+. The stabilities of the intermediatesas determined from the kinetic data were 2.81, 3.12, 2.97, and 2.69 log
K units for Ce(H
2PCTA), Eu(H
2PCTA),Y(H
2PCTA), and Yb(H
2PCTA), respectively. Rearrangement of these intermediates to the fully chelated complexeswas the rate-determining step, and the rate constant (
kr) for this process was found to be inversely proportional tothe proton concentration. The formation rates (
kOH) increased with a decrease in the lanthanide ion size [9.68 ×10
7, 1.74 × 10
8, 1.13 × 10
8, and 1.11 × 10
9 M
-1 s
-1 for Ce(PCTA), Eu(PCTA), Y(PCTA), and Yb(PCTA), respectively].These data indicate that the Ln(PCTA) complexes exhibit the fastest formation rates among all lanthanide macrocyclicligand complexes studied to date. The acid-catalyzed dissociation rates (
k1) varied with the cation from 9.61 ×10
-4, 5.08 × 10
-4, 1.07 × 10
-3, and 2.80 × 10
-4 M
-1 s
-1 for Ce(PCTA), Eu(PCTA), Y(PCTA), and Yb(PCTA),respectively.