Metal Complexes of 4‐Amino‐N‐(2‐pyrimidinyl)benzene Sulfonamide: Synthesis, Characterization and Antiprotozoal Studies

We present the synthesis, characterization and in vitro antiprotozoal studies of Cu(II), Zn(II), Mn(II), Ni(II), Pd(II), Pt(II), and VO(II) complexes of sulfadiazine. Elemental analysis, IR, UV‐Vis, room temperature magnetic moments were used to characterize the complexes. Cu(II), Zn(II), Mn(II), Ni(II), and VO(II) formed octahedral complexes formulated as [M(SD)₂(H₂O)₂] · xH₂O, (SD=sulfadiazine), while Pd(II) and Pt(II) formed square planar complexes containing one molecule of sulfadiazine. In all the complexes, the sulfadiazine acts as a bidentate ligand coordinating through the sulfonamido N‐atom and the pyrimidinic N‐atom. The complexes were screened against the resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum, T. b. rhodosiense and L. donovani to determine their antiprotozoal activities.

Keywords:

• sulfadiazine
• metal complexes
• antiprotozoal
• Plasmodium falciparum
• malaria
• sleeping sickness

The authors wish to thank Prof. Reto Brun and Marcel Kaizer (Swiss Tropical Institute) for the biological screening, and the National Research Foundation (South Africa) and the Royal Society (UK) for financial support. PAA thanks the University of Ado‐Ekiti, Nigeria, for study leave.