Bivalent Ni(II), Co(II) and Cu(II) complexes of [(E)-[(2-methyl-1,3-thiazol-5-yl)methylidene]amino]thiourea: synthesis, spectral characterization, DNA and in-vitro anti-bacterial studies

Investigation of antileishmanial, antioxidant activities, CT-DNA interaction and DFT study of novel cobalt(II) complexes derived from mesogenic aromatic amino acids based Schiff base ligands

In the present work, new Co(II) complexes were synthesized from mesogenic aromatic amino acids based Schiff base ligands, HL1 [Methyl 2-((2-hydroxy-4-(tetradecyloxy)benzylidene)amino)-3-phenylpropanoate] and HL2 [Methyl 2-((2-hydroxy-4-(tetradecyloxy)benzylidene)amino)-3-(1H-indol-2-yl)propanoate]. The compounds were thoroughly characterised using different elemental, thermogravimetric and spectroscopic studies. The in-vitro antileishmanial efficacy of the compounds against Leishmania donovani was evaluated by MTT assay and the antioxidant activity was performed by Mensor's method. The cell viability percentage and IC50 values for both the antileishmanial and antioxidant studies revealed that the cobalt(II) complexes are comparable to the standard, amphotericin B and ascorbic acid, respectively, signifying the potential applications of the biogenic compounds. The CT-DNA interaction experiments study using photophysical techniques indicated that the cobalt(II) complexes exhibited pronounced interactions as compared to the parent ligand. The parent ligands were found to possess mesogenicity as evidenced from the polarizing optical microscope (POM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The optical band gap of the compounds, as estimated from the Tauc plot of the UV-Vis spectra, lies within the domain of optoelectronic material properties, which was further supported through Density Functional Theory (DFT) study. Moreover, DFT methods have been used to explore the ground state geometry and DFT based reactivity descriptors of the two synthesised ligands, HL1 and HL2 along with their corresponding Co(II) complexes, Co(L1)2 and Co(L2)2. Reactivity descriptors obtained from Conceptual Density Functional Theory (CDFT) analysis reveal that Co(L1)2 is the most stable and Co(L2)2 is the most electrophilic.

Synthesis, spectral, DFT calculation, antimicrobial, antioxidant, DNA/BSA binding and molecular docking studies of bio-pharmacologically active pyrimidine appended Cu(II) and Zn(II) complexes

A new pyrimidine derivative Schiff base (HL) [HL = 2-((4-amino-6-chloropyrimidin-2-ylimino)methyl)-4-nitrophenol] has been synthesized using 2,6-diamino-4-chloropyrimidine and 5-nitrosalicylaldehyde. Transition metal complexes of Cu(II) and Zn(II) complexes [CuL(OAc)] (1), [ZnL(OAc)] (2) are prepared with HL/metal(II) acetate with molar ratio of 1:1. The Schiff base (HL) and the complexes 1 and 2 are evaluated by UV-Visible, 1H-NMR, FT-IR, EI-MS and ESR spectral techniques. Complexes 1 and 2 are confirmed as square planar geometry. Electrochemical studies of the complexes 1 and 2 are used to analyse the quasi reversible process. Density Functional Theory (DFT) using the B3LYP/6-31++G(d,p) level basis set was used to get the optimised geometry and non-linear optical properties. The complexes 1 and 2 are good antimicrobial agents than Schiff base (HL). The interactions of the HL and complexes 1 and 2 with Calf Thymus (CT) DNA are investigated by electronic absorption methods and viscosity measurements. Various molecular spectroscopy techniques, such as UV absorption and fluorescence, were used to explore the mechanism of interaction between the BSA and the ligand HL and complexes 1 & 2 under physiological settings. Complexes 1 and 2 are act as potential antioxidants than free Schiff base (HL) by DPPH radical scavenging assay. Furthermore, the purpose of the molecular docking studies was to better understand how metal complexes interact with biomolecules (CT-DNA and BSA). From these biological analyses, complex 1 acts as good intercalator with CT DNA & BSA and potent antioxidant with DPPH radical than complex 2.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Water soluble transition metal [Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II)] complexes of N-phthaloylglycinate bis(1,2-diaminocyclohexane). DNA binding, pBR322 cleavage and cytotoxicity

To validate the effect of metal ions in analogous ligand scaffolds on DNA binding and cytotoxic response, we have synthesized a series of water-soluble ionic N-phthaloylglycinate conjugated bis(diaminocyclohexane)M²⁺ complexes where M = Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) (1-3). The structural characterization of the complexes (1-3) was achieved by spectroscopic {FT-IR, EPR, UV-vis absorption data, ¹H NMR, ESI-MS and elemental analysis} and single crystal X-ray diffraction studies, which revealed different topologies for the late 3d-transition metals. The Ni(II) and Zn(II) complexes exhibited an octahedral geometry with coordinated labile water molecules in the P1̄ space group while the Cu(II) complex revealed a square planar geometry with the P2₁/c space lattice. In vitro DNA-complexation studies were performed employing various complementary biophysical methods to quantify the intrinsic binding constant K_b and K_sv values and to envisage the binding modes and binding affinity of (1-3) at the therapeutic targets. The corroborative results of these experiments revealed a substantial geometric and electronic effect of (1-3) on DNA binding and the following inferences were observed, (i) high K_b and K_sv values, (ii) remarkable cleavage efficiency via an oxidative pathway, (iii) condensation behavior and (iv) good cytotoxic response to HepG2 and PTEN-caP8 cancer cell lines, with copper(II) complex 2 outperforming the other two complexes as a most promising anticancer drug candidate. Copper(II) complexes have been proven in the literature to be good anticancer drug entities, displaying inhibition of uncontrolled-cell growth by multiple pathways viz., anti-angiogenesis, inducing apoptosis and reactive oxygen species mediated cell death phenomena. Nickel(II) and zinc(II) ionic complexes 1 and 3 have also demonstrated good chemotherapeutic potential in vitro and the bioactive 1,2-diaminocyclohexane fragment in these complexes plays an instrumental role in anticancer activity.