We have studied the binding of 1 ,lo-phenanthroline to specifically active-site cobalt(I1)-substituted horse-liver alcohol dehydrogenase [Co(II)-LADH]. The dissociation constant is a factor of 6500 smaller than in the native enzyme. Spectral evidence is given which shows that 1 ,lo-phenanthroline does not remove the catalytic Co(I1) ion and that binding of 1 ,I 0-phenanthroline renders the catalytic metal ion pentacoordinate. The maximum limiting rate constant for the association of 1,lO-phenanthroline to Co(I1)-LADH is about 60 s -' . This is about a third of the value (1 69 s-') determined for native horse-liver alcohol dehydrogenase, Zn(1I)LADH [Frolich et al. (1978) Arch. Biochem. Biuphys. 189,471 -4801. For cadmium(l1)-substituted horse-liver alcohol dehydrogenase, [Cd(II)LADH] the maximum limiting rate constant for association of 1 ,lo-phenanthroline increased to 590 s-'. These findings demonstrate that the rate-limiting step is strongly dependent on the chemical nature of the catalytic metal ion and its immediate environment. 1,lO-Phenanthroline is shown to bind to the Co(I1)-LADH . NAD' complex in the open conformation. The maximum limiting rate constant remains unchanged in the presence of NAD'. The data have been used to derive a kinetic scheme for the formation of ternary complexes including NAD' that involves a slow intermediary step.