New lipophilic ligands derived from 1,3,5-triamino-1,3,5-trideoxy-cis-inositol (taci), namely 1,3,5-trideoxy-1,3,5-tris-(ethylamino)-cis-inositol (L 1 ), 1,3,5-tris(butylamino)-1,3,5-trideoxy-cis-inositol (L 2 ), 1,3,5-trideoxy-1,3,5-tris(hexylamino)-cis-inositol (L 3 ) have been synthesized by reductive amination of taci. Their complexing properties towards trivalent lanthanide cations, together with those of 1,3,5-tris(benzylamino)-1,3,5-trideoxy-cis-inositol (L 4 ), have been investigated in solution using mass spectrometry, NMR spectroscopy and potentiometry. It has been shown that each ligand forms trinuclear complexes with the composition [Ln 3 (LH −3 ) 2 ] 3+ . The stability constants (log β 32−6 ) of these complexes have been