Synthesis,molecular modeling,TD-DFT,antimicrobial, and in vitro therapeutic activity of new spherical nano-sized sulfonamide imine ligands and their zinc (II) and copper (II) complexes

A series of nanometer-sized spherical sulfonamide imine ligands HL ¹ -HL ⁵ and their copper and zinc complexes were synthesized and fully characterized based on elemental analyses, spectroscopic (UV/vis, FT-IR, NMR, EPR, SEM) studies, molar conductance and thermal analyses. Furthermore, computational studies of HL ¹ -HL ⁵ were carried out by the DFT/B3LYP method. TD-DFT, HOMO and LUMO energy values, chemical hardness, electronegativity, electrophilic index, softness, and other parameters were calculated. Screening against several pathogenic microorganisms indicated that HL ¹ exhibited high activity against the tested Gram-negative bacteria relative to other analogues and the inhibition activity is greater than the standard Gentamicin. Analogously, HL ² exhibited high potent activity against the tested Gram-positive bacteria. Copper complexes exhibited a higher potent activity than zinc analogues. Noteworthy, inhibition activity of [Cu ( L ³ )(OAc)] complex is higher than that of the standard Ampicillin. [Cu ( L ² )(OAc)] complex displayed a similar activity of the standard bactericides and fungicides in use. The complexes showed appreciated values of MIC against bacterial strains: B. subtilis (MIC = 0.4 μg / mL), E. coli and S. pneumonia (MIC = 1.95 μg / mL) and P. aeruginosa (MIC = 7.81 μg / mL). in vitro cytotoxic activities study proved that [Cu ( L ³ )(OAc)] complex exhibited appreciable activity versus (HEPG-2); IC₅₀ = 4.8 μg/ml, while [Cu( L ² )(OAc)] complex showed a high activity against (MCF-7); IC₅₀ = 6.2 μg/ml. These results could be considered as new findings of promising antitumor candidates for experimental chemotherapy.