trans-Cinnamic acid--alpha-cyclodextrin system as studied by solubility, spectral, and potentiometric techniques.

Complex formation in aqueous solutions of trans-cinnamic acid or trans-cinnamate ion (the substrate, S) and alpha-cyclodextrin (the ligand, L) can be described quantiatively as the 1:1 and 1:2 complexes, SL and SL2. The solubility, spectral, and potentiometric data over a wide range of ligand concentrations yielded consistent estimates of the complex association constants. For cinnamic acid at 25 degrees K11 = 2260 M-1, delta H degree 11 = 9.3 kcal/mole, and delta S degree 11 = -8 e.u.; and K12 = 60 M-1, delta H degree 12 = -12 kcal/mole, and delta S degree 12 = -26 e.u. For cinnamate ion at 25 degrees, K11 = 110 M-1, delta H degree 11 = -1.9 kcal/mole, and delta S degree 11 = +11 e.u.; and K12 = 15 M-1, delta H degree 12 = 9 kcal/mole, and delta S degree 12 = -15 e.u. (all entrophy changes are unitary quantities). Thermodynamic cycles for the complexes, using solubility data, reveal that complex formation in the solid phase is thermodynamically spontaneous but that complex stability is greater in ageous solution than in the solid phase.