Synthesis, characterization, in silico ADMET prediction, and protein binding analysis of a novel zinc(II) Schiff-base complex: Application of multi-spectroscopic and computational techniques

Abstract

By reaction of 1,2-diaminocyclohexane with the 2,3-butanedione monoxime in the presence of ZnCl₂, a new Schiff base complex was obtained. This complex was characterized by elemental analyses, FT-IR, ¹H NMR, UV–Vis, and conductivity measurements. The reactivity of this complex to human serum albumin (HSA) under simulative physiological conditions was studied by spectroscopic and molecular docking analysis. Experimental results at various temperatures indicated that the intrinsic fluorescence of protein was quenched through a static quenching mechanism. The negative value of enthalpy change and positive value of entropy change indicated that both hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic forces played a major role in the binding of Zn(II) complex to HSA. FT-IR, three-dimensional fluorescence, and UV–Vis absorption results showed that the secondary structure of HSA changed after Zn(II) complex bound to protein. The binding distance was calculated to be 4.96 nm, according to fluorescence resonance energy transfer. Molecular docking results confirmed the spectroscopic results and showed that above complex is embedded into subdomain IIA of protein. All these experimental and computational results clarified that Zn(II) complex could bind with HSA effectively, which could be a useful guideline for efficient Schiff-base drug design.

Keywords:

• Schiff base
• metallodrugs
• protein interactions
• spectroscopic analysis
• molecular docking

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the University of Zabol for financial support.