Binding of ionic species: a general approach to measuring binding constants and assessing affinities

Bound together: The association of receptors with ionic species cannot be assimilated to the binding of neutral guests. When dealing with salts, both ion pairing and binding to the free and the ion-paired ionic guest determine the actual association pattern (see figure). The general issue of measuring association constants and assessing affinities for ions is addressed and validated in two cases of anion binding.A general approach to the largely underestimated issue of measuring binding constants and assessing affinities in the binding of ionic species is described. The approach is based on a rigorous, nongraphical determination of binding constants in multiequilibrium systems by nonlinear regression of chemical shift data from NMR titrations and on the use of the BC(50) descriptor for assessing affinities and ranking the binding ability of receptors on a common scale. The approach has been validated with two tripodal anion-binding receptors, namely, a ureidic (1) and a pyrrolic (2) receptor, binding to tetramethylammonium chloride in CDCl(3)/CD(3)CN (80:20). A set of five and six formation constants could be measured for 1 and 2, respectively, including, in addition to the ion pair, complexes of the free and the ion-paired anion. The BC(50) values calculated from the measured constants allowed a quantitative assessment of each receptor's binding affinity towards the chloride anion, the pyrrolic receptor showing a 15-fold larger affinity over the ureidic receptor, a figure that quantifies the improvement obtained by replacing the amido-pyrrolic for ureidic binding groups on the tripodal scaffold of the receptor. The results have shown that, in contrast to common practice, neither of the two systems could be appropriately described by a 1:1 association with the anion only, but required the ion-pairing and ion-pair binding equilibria to be taken into account because these contribute substantially to the complexation process. The BC(50) descriptor has also been shown to be a useful and general tool for the assessment of affinities of systems involving ionic species. The required extension of the BC(50) binding descriptor to include the treatment of ion-binding has been described in detail.