The acid-base and complexing properties of (S,S) and (S,R) diastereoisomers of 1-(methionylamino)ethylphosphonic acid were studied pH-metrically (25 ЊC, 0.1 mol dm Ϫ3 KNO 3 ). The protonation and stability constants for complex formation with Co 2ϩ , Ni 2ϩ and Zn 2ϩ indicate co-ordination only via the amine, carbonyl peptide and phosphonic groups and, for Cu 2ϩ , also via nitrogen of the deprotonated peptide amide group. The presence of the same types of complexes as in phosphonodipeptide series which do not contain sulfur in the amino acid side chain was observed. Similarly, the differences found between diastereoisomers correspond to the interaction of the hydrophobic and/or hydrophilic parts of the molecule. Co-ordination via sulfur has not been observed. The species determined by 'out of cell' titrations of the platinum() and palladium() systems depend on the initial metal : phosphonic acid molar ratio. A 1 : 2 ratio indicates the co-ordination of amine and sulfur in a wide pH region; in the alkaline region, sulfur atoms are replaced by the peptide amide group. A 1 : 1 ratio indicates the formation of dimers with co-ordinated phosphonic groups. The pH-metrically determined species were confirmed by 31 P-{ 1 H} and 1 H NMR titrations of the systems involving Pd II and Pt II .Phosphonopeptides containing N-terminal aminoalkylphosphonic acids have received considerable attention because of their biological activity. 1 Their synthesis and properties have been reviewed by Kafarski et al. 2 The acid-base and complexing properties of phosphonodipeptides were investigated for glycylaminomethylphosphonic [Gly-Gly-(P)] and 2-glycylaminoethylphosphonic acids with Cu 2ϩ , Ni 2ϩ and Co 2ϩ , 3 and for diastereoisomeric mixtures of phosphonodipeptides containing 1-aminoethylphosphonic acid Ala-(P), or 1-amino-3-methylbutylphosphonic acid, Leu-(P), with Cu 2ϩ . 4 We synthesized two series of phosphonodipeptides containing glycine (Gly), -alanine (Ala), -phenylalanine (Phe) and leucine (Leu) and aminomethylphosphonic or 1-aminoethylphosphonic acids 5 and determined their protonation and stability constants for complex formation with Co 2ϩ , Ni 2ϩ , Cu 2ϩ and Zn 2ϩ . 6,7 The protonation constants exhibited the same dependence on the amino acid side chain as for common dipeptides but the differences were not as large. The stability constants indicated the formation of protonated, nonprotonated and deprotonated complexes with a metal : ligand molar ratio of 1 : 1 and, except for zinc, the formation of 1 : 2 complexes. Simultaneous deprotonation and co-ordination of the peptide amide bond was confirmed only for Cu 2ϩ . The same influence on the size of the amino acid side chain as found for common dipeptides was observed; however, the differences are smaller due to the stronger complexing ability of the phosphonic group. In contrast to the common dipeptides, the differences found for diastereoisomers both in protonation and stability constants 7 were much higher, probably due to the stronger interaction between the hydroph...