A novel family of tetraaza macrocyclic Cu(II) complexes [CuLX(2)] (where L = N(4) donor macrocyclic ligands) and (X = Cl(-), NO(3) (-)) have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, magnetic moments, IR, EPR, mass, electronic spectra and thermal studies. The magnetic moments and electronic spectral studies suggest square planar geometry for [Cu(DBACDT)]Cl(2) and [Cu(DBACDT)](NO(3))(2) complexes and distorted octahedral geometry to the rest of the ten complexes. The biological activity of all these complexes against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria was compared with the activity of existing commercial antibacterial compounds like Linezolid and Cefaclor. Six complexes out of twelve were found to be most potent against both gram-positive as well as gram-negative bacteria due to the presence of thio group in the coordinated ligands.
Keywords: antibacterial studies; copper(II) complexes; synthesis; tetraaza macrocycles.