Developing biologically active compounds having efficient DNA binding and cleavage activity: spectroscopic investigation

Abstract

A new series of novel o-acetoacetotoluidide derived Schiff base and its metal complexes have been synthesized and structurally characterized. Elemental analysis, magnetic and spectroscopic data suggest that the complexes have octahedral geometry. Binding of these complexes with CT-DNA has been analyzed by absorption spectra, viscosity, cyclicvoltammetry and molecular docking analysis. Detailed analysis reveals that the metal complexes intercalate into the DNA base stack as intercalators. All the metal complexes cleave the pBR322 DNA upon irradiation. Antibacterial and antifungal activities of the ligand and its metal complexes are also explored and it has been observed that the complexes exhibit excellent activity against all types of bacteria and fungi than the ligand.