Synergistic effect between metal coordination and hydrogen bonding in phosphate and halide recognition.

The equilibrium constant for binding of dimethyl phosphate to a Co(III) complex in water increases from 6.2 to 210 M-1 upon addition of a single hydrogen bond between the bound phosphate and the metal complex. Crystal structure reveals that the hydrogen bond distance is 1.96 A. The synergistic effect between metal coordination and hydrogen bonding can also be observed for fluoride binding but not for bromide binding.