Microwave-assisted synthesis, spectral characterization, and biological activities of complexes of a Schiff base derived from S-benzyl dithiocarbazate

Abstract

Co(II), Ni(II), Zn(II), and Cd(II) complexes were synthesized from a Schiff base ligand, benzyl-2-(1-(thiophen-2-yl)propylidene)hydrazine-1-carbodithioate (BTPHC), by conventional as well as microwave irradiation methods. The ligand and its metal complexes were characterized by spectroscopic techniques (FT-IR, UV-vis, mass spectrometry, and ¹H NMR) and powder X-ray diffraction. Based on magnetic measurements and spectral data, octahedral environments for Co(II) and Ni(II) complexes and tetrahedral environments for Zn(II) and Cd(II) complexes are proposed. The metal(II) complexes were active toward bacterial and fungal strains. Antidiabetic studies showed that the Cd(II) complex possesses greater potential as an antidiabetic agent than the other metal complexes and the ligand. Antioxidant studies indicate that the Zn(II) and Cd(II) complexes possess high radical scavenging activities. The synthesized ligand and metal(II) complexes were screened for their anticancer properties against two human cancer cell lines MCF-7 and HeLa using an MTT cell viability assay. The Ni(II) complex excelled in halting the proliferation of HeLa and MCF-7 cancer cell lines with IC₅₀ values of 46.63 µM and 80.90 µM, respectively, whereas it displayed insignificant cytotoxicity against the human normal embryonic kidney cell line (HEK293) with IC₅₀ = 300.41 µM.

Keywords:

• Co(II), Ni(II), Zn(II), and Cd(II) derivatives
• antimicrobial activity
• antidiabetic activity
• antioxidant activity
• cytotoxic activity

Acknowledgements

The University Grants Commission and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (India) UGC-Ref. No.: 129/(CSIR-UGC NET JUNE 2019) provided financial support and the biological study was carried out by Biomitra life sciences Pvt. Ltd. Jaipur, Rajasthan, India and Synteny lifesciences Pvt. Ltd. Hyderabad, India for which the authors are thankful.

Author contributions

Sarita Beniwal and Nighat Fahmi were involved in conceptualization, investigation, methodology, project administration, resources, roles/writing—original draft and writing—review and editing. Naveen Sharma participated in data curation, formal analysis and writing—review and editing. Akshita Jain was involved in the acquisition of data and formal analysis. Authors declare no conflict of interest.

Disclosure statement

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.