Syntheses, structure, DNA-binding and DFT studies of a Cu(II) complex based on a pyrazolone derivative

Abstract

A Cu(II) complex based on a pyrazolone derivative, 2-hydroxy-N′-((1-(4-methoxyphenyl)-3methyl-5-oxo-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-4-yl)(phenyl)methylene)benzohydrazide (H₂L), has been prepared. IR spectra, UV-vis spectra, elemental analysis and single-crystal X-ray diffraction indicate that the Cu(II) complex was mononuclear with the chemical composition of [Cu(HL)Cl]·CH₃OH. The Cu(II) compound presented herein exhibits interesting supramolecular characteristics and a novel 3D supramolecular architecture resulted due to the appropriate synergy of multiple intermolecular hydrogen bonds. The interaction of the Cu(II) complex with calf-thymus DNA was investigated by electronic absorption titration as well as EB-DNA competition experiment, and the results indicate that the Cu(II) compound which has a strong affinity for binding DNA is combined with DNA in an embedded manner. Furthermore, Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory calculations (TD-DFT) have been performed on optimized geometries for a better understanding of the electronic transitions in the UV-vis spectra of H₂L and Cu(II) complex.

Keywords:

• Pyrazolone
• Cu(II) compound
• crystal structure
• DNA binding
• DFT calculations

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant 21661019).