The effects of the heteroatom donor on the complexation of various metal ions by macrocyclic polyethers were qualitatively examined by application of the ligand exchange technique in a quadruple ion trap mass spectrometer. The metal ions, including K+, Cs+, Al+, Mg+, Cu+ and Ni+, were generated by laser desorption and allowed to react with 12-crown-4 and its nitrogen and sulfur analogs, cyclen and 1,4,7,10-tetrathiacyclododecane. The orders of gas-phase basicities were established as a comparison. The relative K+ and Cs+ binding affinities of 12-crown-4 are greatest, whereas cyclen has the highest binding affinity for all the other metal ions and also the highest gas-phase basicity.
Relation:
Journal of inclusion phenomena and molecular recognition in chemistry 18(1), pp.37-44
