Abstract

Hydrobromic acid salt of a $N_2O_2$ tetradentate ligand, N,N'-bis(2-hydroxybenzyl)-ethylene-diamine ($H-BHE{\cdot}2HBr$) was synthesized. $Br-BHE{\cdot}2HBr$, $Cl-BHE{\cdot}2HBr$, $CH_3-BHE{\cdot}2HBr$ and $CH_3O-BHE{\cdot}2HBr$ having Br, Cl, $CH_3$ and $CH_3O$ substituents at 5-position of the phenol group of $H-BHE{\cdot}2HBr$ were also synthesized. $Nap-BHE{\cdot}2HBr$ having naphthalen-2-ol instead of the phenol group was also synthesized. The potentiometry study in aqueous solution revealed that the proton dissociations of the synthesized ligands occurred in four steps and the order of the calculated overall proton dissociation constants (${\log}{\beta}_p$) of each ligand was Br-BHE < Cl-BHE < H-BHE < Nap-BHE < $CH_3$-BHE < $CH_3O$-BHE. The order showed a similar trend to that of Hammett substituent constants(${\sigma}_P$). The order of the stability constants (${\log}K_{ML}$) was CO(II) < Ni(II) < Cu(II) > Zn(II) > Cd(II) > Pb(II). The order in their stability constants (${\log}K_{ML}$) of each transition metal complex agreed well with that of the overall proton dissociation constants (${\log}{\beta}_p$).