Composition, Stability and Probable Structure of a Colourless Organometallic Complex (Gd(III)-Malic Acid)

The formation of colourless gadolinium complexes (x,y,z), between x gadolinium ions, y ligands and z protons, of some organic acids, has been studied in aqueous solution. In this work we present the results of investigations on the interaction of the gadolinium ion (Gd3+) with malic acid (C4H6O5, a-hydroxyl dicarboxylic acid), in dilute aqueous solution for pH values between 5.5 and 7.5. Colourless gadolinium complexes of malate ions have no absorption band UV-visible, the indirect photometric detection (IPD) technique was used and studies have identified a major tri-nuclear complex of malate ion (﹣OOC-CH2-CHOH-COO﹣). The formation of this new colourless complex is derived from three Gd(III) ions that react with two malate ions and two hydronium ions (H3O+), giving for this colourless complex, a (3,2,2) composition and apparent stability constant depends on the acidity of the medium, with logK'322 = 18.88 ± 0.05 at pH = 6.30. To complement previous results and to propose a probable structure for this new complex detected in solution, studies of IR spectroscopy have been conducted to identify the chelation sites for both ligands. The results were analysed and show that this organometallic gadolinium complex, contains two different sites, respectively, two lateral tetradentate mono-nuclear sites and a single central bidentate mono-nuclear site. From these results, the reaction of formation, the stability constant and the probable structure of this new colourless organometallic gadolinium complex are proposed.