Implication of Metal Complexes in Biology and Medicine: TheSystem Aluminum (III)/Chromium (III)/Iron (III) – Homoserine

Abstract

Metal ions are fundamental elements for the maintenance of life spans of humans, animals and plants. In coordinatton compounds studies, knowledge of the stability constants of complexes is necessary for preliminary quantitative treatment. Aluminum prefers oxygen doner groups for complexation. The stability of complexes in the biological system depends on pH, which is blood plasma is 7.4. Chromium is very adaptable metal and it can form copious species with variable oxidation numbers from (-VI) to (+VI). Iron is a component of heme and chlorophyll and serves as micronutrients of plants and animals. Ferric ion from industrial effluent has the potential to poison animals and plants. The present technique involving the use of paper electrophoresis
is described for the study of equilibria in binary complexes system in solution. The method is based on the movement of a spot of a metal ion in an electric field at various pH’s of background electrolyte. A graph of pH versus mobility was used to obtain information in the binary complexes and to calculate its stability constants. Using this method, the stability constants of binary complexes, metal (III) – homoserine have been determined to be (8.15 ± 0.03, 6.66 ± 0.08); (8.49 ± 0.01, 7.00 ± 0.05); and (8.79 ± 0.01, 7.43 ± 0.03) (logarithm stability constant values) for aluminum (III), chromium (III), and iron (III)
complexes, respectively, at ionic strength 0.1Mol/L and a temperature of 35 °C.