Weak alkali and alkaline earth metal complexes of low molecular weight ligands in aqueous solution

This work is aimed at reviewing the chemical literature dealing with thermodynamic aspects of the weak complex formation (species with log K values less than about 3) between alkali and alkaline earth metal ions with low molecular weight inorganic and organic ligands in aqueous solution. The following ligands (up to hexavalent anions) were examined in detail: (i) hydroxide, chloride, sulfate, carbonate and phosphate as inorganic, and (ii) carboxylates, amines, amino acids, complexones and nucleotides as organic ligands. The paper also identifies the main reasons responsible for the dispersion of the stability data on ion pairs in the literature. When possible, the trend of stability for the different metal ions interacting with the same ligand will be considered to find predictive interaction relationships. Since the stability of weak alkali and alkaline earth metal complexes are mainly due to electrostatic interaction, simple empirical relationships were obtained between log K and the charge of the anionic ligand. The interest for alkali and alkaline earth cations rises since they are used in study of basic science as components of the supporting electrolyte and are widely diffused in natural fluids. Some examples of application of this science were presented too, to show the role of weak complex formation in the modelling process of natural systems.