Assignment-Inorganic Chemistry MACROCYCLES AND AFFINITY OF METAL IONS TOWARDS MACROCYCLES A macrocycle is defined as a cyclic compound with nine or more members including at least three donor atoms. Macrocycles are special types of polydentate ligands in which the ligating atoms are constrained in a large ring encircling the metal atom. Macrocycles are important and powerful ligands, ubiquitous in transition metal coordination chemistry for the following reasons: 1) They mimic important biological ligands developed long ago by nature, for example the porphyrin prosthetic group of many metalloproteins. 2) They impart thermodynamic and kinetic stabilities to their metal complexes uncommon or non-existent with ligands of lessor types. Macrocycles can be classified as, a. Polyaza Macrocycles b. Polythia, Polyphospha, and Polyarsa Macrocycles c ...