The nature of the ternary complexes forme
d in aqueous me
dia at ambient pH on reversiblebin
ding of acetate, lactate, citrate, an
d selecte
d amino aci
ds an
d pepti
des to chiral
diaqua europium,ga
dolinium, or ytterbium cationic complexes has been examine
d. Crystal structures of the chelate
d ytterbiumacetate an
d lactate complexes have been
define
d in which the carboxylate oxygen occupies an "equatorial"site in the nine-coor
dinate a
dduct. The zwitterionic a
dduct of the citrate anion with [EuL
1] was similar to thechelate
d lactate structure, with a 5-ring chelate involving the apical 3-hy
droxy group an
d the
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-carboxylate.Analysis of Eu an
d Yb emission CD spectra an
d lifetimes (H
2O an
d D
2O) for each ternary complex, inconjunction with
1H NMR analyses of Eu/Yb systems an
d 17O NMR an
d relaxometric stu
dies of the G
danalogues, suggests that carbonate, oxalate, an
d malonate each form a chelate
d (
q = 0) square-antiprismatic complex in which the
dipolar NMR paramagnetic shift (Yb, Eu) an
d the emission circularpolarization (
gem for Eu) are primarily
determine
d by the polarizability of the axial ligan
d. The ternarycomplexes with hy
drogen phosphate, with fluori
de, an
d with Phe, His, an
d Ser at pH 6 are suggeste
d tobe monoaqua systems with Eu/G
d with an apical boun
d water molecule. However, for the ternary complexesof simple amino aci
ds with [YbL
1]
3+, the enhance
d charge
deman
d favors a chelate structure with theamine N in an apical position. Crystal structures of the Gly an
d Ser a
dducts confirm this. In pepti
des an
dproteins (e.g. albumin) containing Glu or Asp resi
dues, the more basic si
de chain carboxylate may chelateto the Ln ion,
displacing both waters.