Speciation 98: Abstracts

Hydroxamate siderophores have been the object of extensive study due to their role as iron(III) specific sequestering agents and potential pharmacological applications connected either with the microbial iron(III) transport role or with in vivo decontamination of iron(III)-overload patients. On the other hand, hydroxamic acids and their chelates with some bivalent ions of the first transition series have been proved to be involved in important therapeutical functions as inhibitors of enzymatic activity.

As a part of our current interest on hydroxamate-type siderophore analogues, we have developed a series of polyamino-polyhydroxamate ligands, having hydroxamate pendant arms attached to cyclic polyamine backbones.

In the present communication we report equilibrium studies of interactions of these ligands with metal ions (mostly Fe³⁺ and Cu²⁺), using potentiometric and spectroscopic techniques. Discussion on the structure of the metal complexes will be aided by molecular models. We also report some studies on the biological activity of the ligands as siderophore analogues.

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