Carolyn A. Haskard, Bruce L. May, Tomas Kurucsev, Stephen F. Lincoln and Christopher J. Easton
Spectrophotometric studies of the complexation of Methyl Orange (MO-) and Tropaeolin 000 No. 2 (TR-) anions by dimeric N,N′-bis(6A-deoxy-6A -β-cyclodextrin)urea (βCD)2ur and its oxalamide and succinamide analogues, (βCD)2ox and (βCD)2su, respectively, are consistent with the predominant formation of complexes of the general formulae (βCD)2x·MO- characterized by stability constants K1=(1.05±0.04)×105, (1.92±0.04)×105 and (2.50±0.02)×104 dm3 mol-1 and (βCD)2x·TR- characterized by K1=(1.39±0.03)×104, (7.4±0.1)×103 and (4.60±0.05)×103 dm3 mol-1, in aqueous phosphate buffer at pH 9.0 and 5.5 and 298.2 K. These values are significantly greater than K1=2160 and 710 dm3 mol-1 for the β-cyclodextrin complexes, βCD·MO- and βCD·TR- and are indicative of cooperative binding in (βCD)2x·MO- and (βCD)2x·TR-. The factors affecting complex stability are discussed and comparisons are made with related systems.