Complex formation of alkaline-earth cations with crown ethers and cryptands in methanol solutions

The complexation of alkaline-earth cations by different crown ethers, azacrown ethers, and cryptands has been studied in methanol solutions by means of calorimetric and potentiometric titrations. The smallest monocyclic ligands examined from 2:1 complexes (ratio of ligand to cation) with cations which are too large to fit into the ligand cavity. With the smallest cryptand, only Sr2+ and Ba2+ ions are able to form exclusive complexes. In the case of the reaction of cryptand (211) with Ca2+, a separate estimation of stability constants for the formation of exclusive and inclusive complexes was possible for the first time. Higher values for stability constants are found for the reaction of alkaline-earth cations with cryptands compared to the reaction with alkali ions. This increase is only caused by favorable entropic contributions