Antibacterial activity of ruthenium(II) carbonyl complexes containing tetradentate Schiff bases

Several new hexa-coordinated ruthenium(II) complexes of the type Ru(CO)(LL)(B)] (where, LL = anthacac, anthdibm, 2-amtpacac or 2-amtpdibm; B = PPh₃ or py or pip or morph) have been prepared by reacting RuHCl(CO)(PPh₃)₃] or RuHCl(CO)(PPh₃)₂(B)] with tetradentate Schiff bases such as bis(anthranilic acid)acetylacetimine (H₂-anthacac), bis(anthranilic acid) dibenzoylmethimine (H₂-anthdibm), bis(2-aminothiophenol) acetylacetimine (H₂-2-amptacac) or bis(2-aminothiophenol) dibenzoylmethimine (H₂-2-amtpdibm). The complexes have been characterised by elemental analyses and spectral (i.r., electronic spectra, ¹H- and ³¹P-n.m.r.) data. An octahedral structure has been tentatively proposed for the complexes, which were also tested for their antibacterial properties.