Electric relaxation processes in chemodynamics of aqueous metal complexes: from simple ligands to soft nanoparticulate complexants.

The chemodynamics of metal complexes with nanoparticulate complexants can differ significantly from that for simple ligands. The spatial confinement of charged sites and binding sites to the nanoparticulate body impacts on the time scales of various steps in the overall complex formation process. The greater the charge carried by the nanoparticle, the longer it takes to set up the counterion distribution equilibrium with the medium. A z+ metal ion (z > 1) in a 1:1 background electrolyte will accumulate in the counterionic atmosphere around negatively charged simple ions, as well as within/around the body of a soft nanoparticle with negative structural charge. The rate of accumulation is often governed by diffusion and proceeds until Boltzmann partition equilibrium between the charged entity and the ions in the medium is attained. The electrostatic accumulation proceeds simultaneously with outer-sphere and inner-sphere complex formation. The rate of the eventual inner-sphere complex formation is generally controlled by the rate constant of dehydration of the metal ion, k(w). For common transition metal ions with moderate to fast dehydration rates, e.g., Cu(2+), Pb(2+), and Cd(2+), it is shown that the ionic equilibration with the medium may be the slower step and thus rate-limiting in their overall complexation with nanoparticles.