A Walk Across the Lanthanide Series: Trend in Affinity for Phosphate and Stability of Lanthanide Receptors from La(III) to Lu(III)

Kinetically Inert Macrocyclic Europium(III) Receptors for Phosphate

The significant role that phosphate plays in environmental water pollution and biomedical conditions such as hyperphosphatemia highlights the need to develop robust receptors that can sequester the anion effectively and selectively from complex aqueous media. Toward that goal, four macrocyclic tris-bidentate 1,2-hydroxypyridonate (HOPO) europium(III) complexes containing either a cyclen, cyclam, TACN, or TACD ligand cap were synthesized and evaluated as phosphate receptors. The solubility of Eu^III-TACD-HOPO in water was insufficient for luminescent studies. Whereas Eu^III-cyclen-HOPO is eight coordinate with two inner-sphere water molecules, both Eu^III-cyclam-HOPO and Eu^III-TACN-HOPO are nine coordinate with three inner-sphere water molecules, suggesting that the two coordination states are very close in energy. As observed previously with linear analogues of tripodal HOPO complexes, there is no relationship between the number of inner-sphere water molecules and the affinity of the complex for phosphate. Whereas all three complexes do bind phosphate, Eu^III-cyclen-HOPO has the highest affinity for phosphate with the anion displacing both of its inner-sphere water molecules. On the other hand, only one or two of the three inner-sphere water molecules of Eu^III-TACN-HOPO and Eu^III-cyclam-HOPO are displaced by phosphate, respectively. All three complexes are highly selective for phosphate over other anions, including arsenate. All three complexes are highly stable. Eu^III-cyclen-HOPO and, to a lesser extent, Eu^III-TACN-HOPO are more kinetically inert than the linear Eu^III-Ser-HOPO. Eu^III-cyclam-HOPO, on the other hand, is not. This study highlights the significant effect that minor changes in the ligand cap can have on both the ligand exchange rate and affinity for phosphate of tripodal 1,2-dihydroxypyridinonate complexes.

Luminescent Lanthanide Probes for Inorganic and Organic Phosphates

Inorganic and organic phosphates-including orthophosphate, nucleotides, and DNA-are some of the most fundamental anions in cellular biology, regulating numerous processes of both medical and environmental significance. The characteristic long lifetimes of emitting lanthanides, including the brighter europium(III) and terbium(III), make them ideally suited for the development of molecular probes for the detection of phosphates directly in complex aqueous media. Moreover, given their high oxophilicity and the exquisite sensitivity of their quantum yields to their hydration number, those luminescent lanthanides are perfect for the detection of phosphates. Herein we discuss the principles that have guided the recent developments of molecular probes selective for inorganic or organic phosphates and how these lanthanide complexes facilitate the study of numerous biological processes.

Exploiting the Fluxionality of Lanthanide Complexes in the Design of Paramagnetic Fluorine Probes

Fluorine-19 MRI is increasingly being considered as a tool for biomolecular imaging, but the very poor sensitivity of this technique has limited most applications. Previous studies have long established that increasing the sensitivity of ¹⁹F molecular probes requires increasing the number of fluorine nuclei per probe as well as decreasing their longitudinal relaxation time. The latter is easily achieved by positioning the fluorine atoms in close proximity to a paramagnetic metal ion such as a lanthanide(III). Increasing the number of fluorine atoms per molecule, however, is only useful inasmuch as all of the fluorine nuclei are chemically equivalent. Previous attempts to achieve this equivalency have focused on designing highly symmetric and rigid fluorinated macrocyclic ligands. A much simpler approach consists of exploiting highly fluxional lanthanide complexes with open coordination sites that have a high affinity for phosphated and phosphonated species. Computational studies indicate that Ln^III-TREN-MAM is highly fluxional, rapidly interconverting between at least six distinct isomers. In neutral water at room temperature, Ln^III-TREN-MAM binds two or three equivalents of fluorinated phosphonates. The close proximity of the ¹⁹F nuclei to the Ln^III center in the ternary complex decreases the relaxation times of the fluorine nuclei up to 40-fold. Advantageously, the fluorophosphonate-bound lanthanide complex is also highly fluxional such that all ¹⁹F nuclei are chemically equivalent and display a single ¹⁹F signal with a small LIS. Dynamic averaging of fluxional fluorinated supramolecular assemblies thus produces effective ¹⁹F MR systems.

Design Principles and Applications of Selective Lanthanide-Based Receptors for Inorganic Phosphate

Phosphate is an anion of both environmental and medical significance. The increase in phosphate levels in surface waters due primarily to run-offs from fertilized agricultural fields causes widespread eutrophication and increasingly large dead-zones. Hyperphosphatemia, a condition in which blood phosphate levels are elevated, is a primary cause of increased mortality and morbidity in chronic or advanced kidney disease. Resolving both of these issues require, in part, new technology that could selectively sequester phosphate in water at neutral pH. The high hydration energy of phosphate, which prevents organic receptors from functioning in water with sufficient affinity, can be overcome via coordination to a hard metal ion. The hardness, oxophilicity and lability of lanthanide ions make them excellent candidates for the design of high affinity phosphate receptors. In this perspective, we discuss how the principles of lanthanide coordination chemistry can be exploited to design sensitive and selective receptors for phosphate. Unlike many supramolecular systems, these hosts do not recognize their anionic guests via directed electrostatic and hydrogen bonding interactions. Instead, the selectivity of our fluxional receptors is governed entirely by acid-base chemistry and electrostatic forces. Parameters that affect the affinity and selectivity of the receptors include the basicities of the coordinating ligand and of the targeted anion, the acidity of the lanthanide ion, and the geometry of the ligand. Uniquely, their affinity for phosphate can be readily tuned by orders of magnitude either by peripheral interactions or by the lanthanide ion itself without affecting their exquisite selectivity over competing anions such as bicarbonate and chloride.