Summary A series of lipophilic 3, 6-dioxaoctanedioic diamides (potential ionophores for Ca2+) have been prepared. With increasing lipophilicity the ionophoric behavior of these ligands vanishes. This loss is shown to be due to kinetic limitations in the exchange reactions between aqueous phase and membrane phase.
![2-[2-(2-chloro-2-oxoethoxy)ethoxy]acetyl chloride Structure](https://image.chemsrc.com/caspic/374/31255-09-1.png)
![2,2'-[1,2-Ethanediylbis(oxy)]bis(N,N-dioctylacetamide) Structure](https://image.chemsrc.com/caspic/124/67615-89-8.png)