Macrocycles are generally described as molecules and ions containing twelve- or more-membered rings. Macrocyclic compounds describe a large and mature field of chemistry. The macrocycle often binds ions and facilitates the transport of ions across the hydrophobic membrane and solvent. It wraps the ions with a hydrophobic sheath, which facilitates the phase transfer characteristics. What Are Macrocyclic Effects? The macrocyclic effect is when the multidentate ligand forms a ring with the central metal atom or ion, since it is a multidentate ligand, the stability of the complex is enhanced. The macrocyclic effect is the high affinity of metal cations for macrocyclic ligands compared to their acyclic analogs. What Is a…

Chelating agents are organic compounds capable of linking together metal ions to form complex ring-like structures called chelates. They are also known as chelants, chelators, or sequestering agents. What Are Natural Chelating Agents? Citric, malic, lactic, and tartaric acids and certain amino acids are naturally occurring chelating agents, but they are not as powerful as EDTA. The EDTA (ethylene-diamine-tetraacetic acid) molecule is a chelating agent widely used in molecular biology to sequester divalent and trivalent metal ions such as calcium and magnesium. What Is a Typical Chelating Agent? An example of a simple chelating agent is ethylenediamine. A single molecule of ethylenediamine can form two bonds to a transition-metal ion…