Macrocyclic Lanthanide Complexes as Artificial Nucleases and Ribonucleases: Effects of pH, Metal Ionic Radii, Number of Coordinated Water Molecules, Charge, and Concentrations of the Metal Complexes

Abstract

We have been interested in the design, synthesis, and characterization of artificial nucleases and ribonucleases by employing macrocyclic lanthanide complexes because their high thermodynamic stability, low kinetic lability, high coordination number, and charge density (Lewis acidity) allow more design flexibility and stability. In this paper, we report the study of the use of the europium(III) complex, EuDO2A+ (DO2A is 1,7-dicarboxymethyl-1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane) and other lanthanide complexes (i.e., LaDO2A+, YbDO2A+, EuK21DA+, EuEDDA+, and EuHEDTA where K21DA is 1,7-diaza-4,10,13-trioxacyclopentadecane-N,N'-diacetic acid, EDDA is ethylenediamine-N,N'-diacetic acid, and HEDTA is N-hydroxyethyl-ethylenediamine-N,N',N'-triacetic acid), as potential catalysts for the hydrolysis of the phosphodiester bond of BNPP (sodium bis(4-nitrophenyl)-phosphate). For the pH range 7.0-11.0 studied, EuDO2A+ promotes BNPP hydrolysis with the quickest rates among LaDO2A+, EuDO2A+, and YbDO2A+. This indicates that charge density is not the only factor affecting the reaction rates. Among the four complexes, EuDO2A+, EuK21DA+, EuEDDA+, and EuHEDTA, with their respective number of inner-sphere coordinated water molecules three, two, five, and three, EuEDDA+, with the greatest number of inner-sphere coordinated water molecules and a positive charge, promotes BNPP hydrolysis more efficiently at pH below 8.4, and the observed rate trend is EuEDDA+ > EuDO2A+ > EuK21DA+ > EuHEDTA. At pH > 8.4, the EuEDDA+ solution becomes misty and precipitates form. At pH 11.0, the hydrolysis rate of BNPP in the presence of EuDO2A+ is 100 times faster than that of EuHEDTA, presumably because the positively charged EuDO2A+ is more favorable for binding with the negatively charged phosphodiester compounds. The logarithmic hydrolysis constants (pKh) were determined, and are reported in the parentheses, by fitting the kinetic k(obs) data vs pH for EuDO2A+ (8.4), LaDO2A+ (8.4), YbDO2A+ (9.4), EuK21DA+ (7.8), EuEDDA+ (9.0), and EuHEDTA (10.1). The preliminary rate constant-[EuDO2A+] data at pH 9.35 were fitted to a monomer-dimer reaction model, and the dimer rate constant is 400 times greater than that of the monomer. The fact that YbDO2A+ catalyzes BNPP less effectively than EuDO2A+ is tentatively explained by the formation of an inactive dimer, [Yb(DO2A)(OH)]2, with no coordination unsaturation for BNPP substrate binding.