Cu(II), Ni(II), Zn(II) and Fe(III) complexes containing a N2O2 donor ligand: Synthesis, characterization, DNA cleavage studies and crystal structure of [Cu(HL)Cl]

A polydentate ligand, H₂L “[1-(5-isopropyl-2-methyl phenoxy)-3-(N-2-hydroxy benzyl-N-((pyridine-2-yl)amino) propan-2-ol]”, containing a N₂O₂ donor moiety was synthesized by refluxing 2-((5-isopropyl-2-methylphenoxy)methyl)oxirane and HBPA (N-(2-hydroxybenzyl)-N-(2-pyridylmethyl)amine). This synthesized ligand was used for the preparation of complexes with different metal ions, viz. [Cu(HL)Cl] (1), [Ni(HL)Cl] (2), [Zn(HL)Cl] (3) and [Fe(HL)Cl₂] (4). The ligand and metal complexes were characterized by ¹H NMR, mass, ESI-MS, elemental analysis, IR, UV-Vis and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. The crystal structure for one of the complexes, [Cu(HL)Cl], was solved from the X-ray crystallography data. The structure of the complex, based on the trigonality index tau, suggests an intermediate geometry between square pyramidal (sp) and trigonal bipyramidal (tb). Both the ligand and the metal complexes show oxidative cleavage of plasmid DNA (pBR322) without addition of any exogenous agent, even at a concentration of 5 μM. The binding constants for these compounds were found to be in the range 5.33-0.065 × 10⁵ M⁻¹.