Potentiometric equilibrium measurements have been made for the interaction of adenosine-5′-mono-,-di-, and -triphosphate, and Co(II) with biologically important secondary ligands (malic, maleic, succinic, tartaric, citric, and oxalic acid). The formation of various 1:1:1 mixed ligand complexes inferred from the potentiometric titration curves. Initial estimates of the formation constants of the resulting species and the acid dissociation constants of AMP, ADP, ATP and the secondary ligand acids have been refined with a computer program. In some systems, the ternary complexes are found to be more stable than the corresponding binary ones. In some ternary systems studied, interligand interactions or some cooperativity between the coordinate ligands, possibly H bond formation, have been found to be most effective in deciding the stability of the complexes formed in solution. Stabilities of mixed ligand complexes increase in the order AMP <ADP <ATP. With respect to the secondary ligands, the formation constants of the mixed ligand complexes decrease in the following order: succinic > maleic > tartaric > malic > citric > oxalic acid. © 1994 Springer-Verlag.