Stability constants for the Mg2+ and Cd2+ complexes of ATP, ADP, ATP alpha S, ATP beta S, and ADP alpha S have been determined at 30 degrees C and mu = 0.1 M by 31P NMR. Besides being of the utmost importance for determining species distributions for enzymatic studies, these constants allow an estimation of the preference of Cd2+ for sulfur vs. oxygen coordination in phosphorothioate complexes. Stability constants for Mg2+ complexes decreases when sulfur replaces oxygen (log K: ADP, 4.11; ADP alpha S, 3.66; ATP, 4.70; ATP alpha S, 4.47; ATP beta S, 4.04) because of (a) a statistical factor resulting from the loss of one potential phosphate oxygen ligand and (b) either an alteration in the charge distribution between oxygen and sulfur or destabilization of the chelate ring structure by loss of an internal hydrogen bond between an oxygen of coordinated phosphate and metal-bound water. Cd2+ complexes with sulfur-substituted nucleotides are more stable than those without sulfur (log K: ADP, 3.58; ADP alpha S, 4.95; ATP, 4.36; ATP alpha S, 4.42; ATP beta S, 5.44) because of the preferential binding of Cd2+ to sulfur rather than oxygen, which we estimate to be approximately 60 in CdADP alpha S and CdATP beta S. The proportion of tridentate coordination is estimated to be 50-60% in MgATP and MgATP beta S, approximately 27% in MgATP alpha S, approximately 16% in CdATP or CdATP beta S, but approximately 75% in CdATP alpha S. By analysis of the data of Jaffe and Cohn [Jaffe, E. K., & Cohn, M. (1979) J. Biol. Chem. 254, 10839], we conclude that the preference for oxygen over sulfur coordination to ATP beta S is 31 000 for Mg2+, 3100-3900 for Ca2+, and 158-193 for Mn2+. Proton NMR demonstrates that bidentate Cd2+ complexes form intramolecular chelates with the N-7 of adenine while Mg2+ nucleotides and the tridenate CdATP alpha S do not. An analysis of the 31P NMR line widths shows that the rate constants for dissociation of MgADP and MgATP are both 7000 s-1 while the association rate constants are 7 X 10(7) and 4 X 10(8) M-1 s-1, respectively. The observed dependence of the line width on nucleotide concentration is best explained by a base-stacking model at nucleotide concentrations above 5 mM.