1H-NMR and electronic spectroscopic data are reported for the interaction of the effector molecule imidazole and the inhibitor molecule pyrazole with horse liver alcohol dehydrogenase whose catalytic zinc ions were replaced by Co(II). In addition 13C-NMR and optical data are given for the binding of acetate to this enzyme species. For the binary complex with imidazole an assignment of the protons of the metal-coordinated imidazole has been made and it was found that the rate of exchange of the effector molecule is slow on the NMR time scale. In the presence of NADH which is bound to the open conformation of the binary complex, the most pronounced change is a shift of the beta-CH2 protons of the metal-coordinated cysteine residues which is attributed to hydrogen bonding interactions between the carboxamide group of the nicotinamide moiety with cysteine 46. The 1H-NMR spectra of the binary complex of Co(II)-HLADH with pyrazole show resonances assigned to the protons in the 3- and 4-positions of the bound inhibitor, the NH proton resonance is not detectable. In the ternary complex with pyrazole and NAD+ only the resonances of the beta-CH2 protons (beyond 150 ppm) are changed whereas the protons of histidine 67 and the bound inhibitor are unchanged. The data demonstrate that the coordination environment of the catalytic metal ion is changed very little when the protein changes from the open to the closed conformation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)