The mechanism of change in the enantiomer migration order (EMO) of tartarate on ligand exchange CE with Cu(II) and Ni(II)D-quinic acid systems was investigated thoroughly by circular dichroism (CD) spectropolarimetry. The 13C NMR spectra of solutions containing D-quinate (pH 5.0) with Cu(II) or Ni(II) revealed the coordination of carboxylate and hydroxyl groups on D-quinate. The D-quinic acid concentration dependence of the CD spectra at a fixed Cu(II) concentration at pH 5.0 indicates that the 1:1, 1:2 and 1:3 Cu(II)D-quinate complexes were formed with an increase in the concentration of D-quinic acid. The CD spectral behavior revealed that D-tartarate is selectively coordinated to the 1:1 complex to give the 1:1:1 Cu(II)D-quinateD-tartarate ternary complex while L-tartarate is selectively bound to the 1:2 and 1:3 complexes to form the 1:2:1 ternary complex. In the Ni(II)D-quinic acid system, it became apparent that the 1:2 Ni(II)D-quinate complex is mainly formed in the wide range of D-quinic acid concentration at pH 5.0 and D-tartarate is selectively coordinated to the 1:2 complex to form the 1:2:1 ternary complex. The change in EMO of tartarate on ligand exchange CE was explainable by the change in coordination selectivity for D- and L-tartarates in the Cu(II) and Ni(II)D-quinic acid systems depending on the compositions of the complexes formed in BGE.