Highly preorganized ligands have shown greater stability constants as well as increased
metal-ion selectivities over their straight-chain analogs. These ligands show a promising future
in the bioinorganic, nuclear and industrial fields as well as many others. The preorganized
ligand 1,10-phenanthroline-2,9-dicarboxylic acid (PDA) was synthesized and subjected to purity
verification for studies into its formation constants with various aqueous metal-ions as well as its
metal-ligand complex crystal structure. Formation constants were determined from UV/Vis
spectrophotometry detection methods using the absorbance spectra as a function of pH.
Formation constants for the metal ions Al(III), Fe(III), Th(IV), Lu(III) and UO2
2+ are reported
amongst others and crystal structures for the metal-PDA complexes of Ba(II),Th(IV) and UO2
2+
are also reported
