Structural design, and biological assessment of Co2+, Ni2+, Cu2+and Zn2+complexes with N-(phenyl)-2-imino-2H-chromene-3-carboxamide

A new series of complexes based on N-(phenyl)-2-imino-2H-chromene-3-carboxamide ligand (NPICC) with Co2+, Ni2+, Cu2+ and Zn2+ metal ions have been synthesized and characterized using IR, H-NMR, UV-Vis, and TGA techniques. Invitro antimicrobial activity of the synthesized compound were conducted using well diffusion method against Gram-positive and Gram-negative strains bacteria and fungi. The results showed that complexes possess good inhibition activity against Klebsiella pneumoniae (G-), staphylococcus epidermis and staphylococcus aureus (G+) as well as candida albicans fungi than ligand and comparable with commercial drugs. Furthermore, the titled compounds were tested for their anti-tumor activity against SKOV-3 and MDA-MB231 cell lines. Results indicated that NiNPICC complex exhibited best activity with IC50 values of 6.42 and 3.95 mu g/mL against SKOV-3 and MDA-MB231 cell lines, respectively. To understand the mode of antimicrobial action, quantum mechanics calculation based on DFT theory and docking study were performed for all compounds. Electronic structure analysis and docking energy were investigated. All the titled compounds were docked in a good manner within the active sites of the bacterial and fungi enzymes and exhibited good binding energies. Complexes showed higher electronic activity than ligand supporting the experimental results obtained.