Amphiphilic dithiocarbamate chelators were synthesized to afford the ability to traverse biological membranes. Comparison of copper (II) stability constants for dithiocarbamates was accomplished by a competition reaction between copper oxinates and copper dithiocarbamates using UV/VIS spectrophotometry. The stability constants of mixed copper hydroxyquinoline-dithiocarbamate complexes were calculated by a continuous variation and subtractive spectrophotometric methods. Using these techniques, the competitive stability constants log K-c were determined as 1.53, 1.95 and 2.03 for amphiphilic dithiocarbamates and 3.52 for dibutyldithiocarbamate.