Binuclear Metal Complexes of Symmetrical Phenylenediamine Schiff Base Synthesis, Characterization, Computational Simulation and Biological Studies

Abstract

Coordination compounds with bioactive ligands are currently being studied in detail for their increased biological activity and potential application to be used in the advancement of promising metal-based drugs. Within this research theme, a symmetrical Schiff base ligand, 2,2'-{benzene-1,4-diylbis[nitrilomethylylidene]}bis(6-methoxyphenol) (L) was synthesized and characterized. The computational based calculations of ligand (L) were performed using DFT/B3LYP/6-31+G (d,p) approach. Both the experimental results as well as computational findings agreed well with the structure of ligand (L). The phenylenediamine ligand was used to synthesize its binuclear VO(IV), Cr(III), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) complexes. Moreover, the synthesized compounds were evaluated for antibacterial effect against four bacteria. Antiradical properties of all the compounds were also estimated using DPPH assay. The results of these studies have shown that the metal complexes exhibited a greater antibacterial and antioxidant efficiency in contrast to free ligand, and the activity of metal complexes was high due to chelation process.