The complexation of aqueous metal ions relevant to biological applications 2. Evaluation of simultaneous equilibria of poorly soluble zinc salts with select amino acids

Simultaneous equilibria calculations were completed for seven aqueous zinc-ligand systems: zinc citrate plus either glycine, alanine, or serine, and zinc succinate plus either glycine, alanine, or serine, and zinc oxalate plus glycine. Mixed-ligand complexes were predicted for all but the zinc citrate-glycine system, and the proportion tends to peak around 5 molar equivalents of amino acid. Potential bioavailability of zinc appears to be increased by the inclusion of amino acids in solution, roughly in parallel with the increase in solubility of the zinc salt. Therefore, measurement of the change in solubility caused by addition of amino acids to aqueous solution gives qualitative insight to the potential increase in bioavailability of the metal ion, and mixed-ligand complexes are a significant proportion of the complexes present in solution.