Figure 1.

Factors affecting the efficacy and toxicity of chelators and chelator metal complexes. Many factors can influence chelating activity in biological systems including the chelator physicochemical, metabolic, pharmacolocical and toxicological properties. Some of the properties which influence the biological activity of chelators and chelator metal complexes include the equilibrium constant (log K) of metal complex formation, the molecular weight (MWt), lipid/water partition coefficient (Kpar), the charge of the chelator which depends on the pKa of ligands and the pH.