Factors affecting the metal ion–hydroxamate interactions II: effect of the length of the connecting chain on the Fe(III), Mo(VI) and V(V) complexation of some new desferrioxamine B (DFB) model dihydroxamic acids

Three new dihydroxamic acids (HO(CH3)NCO–(CH2)2–CO–NH–(CH2)x–CON(CH3)OH where the x values are 4; 3 and 2, and the compounds are abbreviated as 2,4-DIHA, 2,3-DIHA and 2,2-DIHA), containing the peptide group in a certain position to one of the two functional groups and in different distances to the other one, were synthesized and their complexation with Fe(III), Mo(VI) and V(V) was studied by pH-potentiometric, spectrophotometric and in some cases by CV methods to evaluate the redox behaviour of the Fe(III) complexes and assess their potential biological activity as siderophore models. All these compounds are structural models for the natural siderophore, desferrioxamine B (DFB). The results were compared to those of the complexes of 2,5-DIHA having the same connecting chain structure and length as DFB has, and the effects of the length of the connecting chain on the co-ordination mode and on the stability of the complexes formed were evaluated.