The stability constants of the mixed-ligand complexes of ATP, 1, IO-phenanthroline (phen), and Mg2+, Ca2+, Mn2+, Cu2+, or Zn2+ (M2+) have been determined by potentiometric titration. Changes in the stabilities are quantified by A log K M = log K$$$(AT~) -log KE(ATP), corresponding to the equilibrium M(ATP)2-+ M(phen)2+ M(phen)(ATP)2-+ M2+.For the Ca2+, Mg2+, Zn2+, Mn2+, and Cu2+ systems A log K M is 0.6,0.4, 0.22, 0.12, and 0.05, respectively. The stability enhancement in the Ca2+ and Mg2+ systems has also been determined more precisely by ultraviolet-difference spectroscopy, A log K M = 0.53 and 0.55, respectively. All these ternary complexes are much more stable than expected on statistical grounds; in fact, the observation ofposiriue values for A log K M means that ATP4-binds more tightly to M(phen)2+ than to M2+. The formation of stacked adducts between phen and adenosine or ATP has been observed by difference spectroscopy and by ' H N M R and the stability of these adducts has been determined. 'H N M R of the phen/ATP4-/Mg2+ and phen/ATP4-/Zn2+ systems confirms the presence of stacking in the ternary complexes. This stacking causes the increased stability of the ternary Mg2+ and Ca2+ complexes.As many enzymes require activation by metal ions' and as this often involves a ternary enzyme/substrate/metal ion ~o m p l e x ,~ ternary metal ion complexes have received considerable attention in recent years.5 Ternary Cu2+ complexes are the best studied group,6 and relatively little work has been done on ions of other transition metal^,^-^ the lanthanides,I0 zinc,8,11 cadmium,I2 mercury,13 a l~m i n i u m ,~~, '~ and lead.15 Although ternary Ca2+ complexes have been reported,I5.l6 the group I and I1 metal ions have largely been ignored. These metal ions play major biochemical role^,^^,'^ for example, Na+ and K+ in nerves," Ca2+ in muscles, and Mg2+ in energy transfer and storage as high-energy phosphates3 Yet despite the requirement3 of Mg2+ by most enzymes which use ATPI9 and which involve ternary enzyme/ATP/Mg2+ complexes,20 no studies of the stability of low molecular weight ternary complexes containing Mg2+ and ATP have been reported, although the temperature-jump method has been used in a kinetic study2] of ternary complexes containing 8-hydroxyquinoline, Mg2+, and ATP. Measurement of stability constants of ternary complexes of ATP, a transition metal ion, and 2,2'-bipyridyI,** or trypt~p h a n~~ showed that these complexes are rather stable.Stacking between the purine moiety of ATP and bipyridyl or tryptophan in the ternary complexes Zn(ATP)(bpy)2-and z n ( A T P ) ( t r~)~-has been observed by IH NMR.23*24 Spectrophotometric s t~d i e s~~-~~ indicate that adducts between a purine derivative and bipyridyl or tryptophan even occur in the absence of a metal ion, although these binary adducts are rather weak. Similar stacked complexes have been observed with m a n g a n e~e ( I I ) ,~~ ~o b a l t ( I I ) ,~~ n i~k e l ( I I ) ,~~ copper-(11),22-24 and z i n~( I I ) ,~~,~~ but Mg2+ and Ca2+ were not studied owing ...