La(III), Ce(III), Gd(III), and Eu(III) Complexation with Tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane in Aqueous Solution

Lanthanides such as cerium(III), europium(III), and gadolinium(III) are widely used for designing fluorescent probes or magnetic resonance imaging contrasting agents for biological systems. The synthesis and study of lanthanide complexes in buffer solutions imitating biological fluids are often complicated because of a lack of data on the lanthanide interactions with buffer solution components. Therefore, Ln(III) [where Ln(III) = La(III), Ce(III), Gd(III), Eu(III)] complexation with a widely used buffer agent, tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (Tris), in aqueous solution is studied using potentiometry, spectrofluorimetry, and ¹³⁹La NMR spectroscopy. The stoichiometric composition of complexes is determined using mass spectrometry. The thermodynamic stability constants of Ln(III)-Tris complexes are calculated from potentiometric and spectral data; the difficulties in the study of these systems, reliability, and accuracy of the obtained constants are discussed. The possible structures of free Tris and its complexes with lanthanides(III) are optimized on the density functional theory/PBE0 level; the peculiarities of metal-ligand bonds were studied by Quantum Theory Atoms in Molecules analysis.