Structural, computational and in silico studies of Schiff bases derived from 2,3-dihydroxybenzaldehyde and molecular structure of their zwitterionic forms

Investigating the biological actions of some Schiff bases using density functional theory study

Schiff base ligands have wide varieties of application in several fields. One of which is the biological actions they possess such as anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti-malarial, and anti-viral characteristics. In this study, some synthesized phenylimino-based Schiff bases were investigated using density functional theory (DFT) to unravel their biological descriptors. The gas-phase quantum chemical calculation was done on the Schiff base 3-((E)-(phenylimino)methyl)benzene-1,2-diol and other synthesized analogues to evaluate their reactivity and stability properties including the substituent effect on the basic molecule. The Coulomb-attenuating method (CAM-B3LYP) functional was employed for the theoretical calculations. The Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), Fourier Transform-Infrared (FT-IR), Ultraviolet/visible spectroscopies calculated agrees with the experimental values. The obtained charge transfer and electronic features provide useful information regarding the active sites for biological application in the compounds.