Redox and antimicrobial studies of transition metal(II) tetradentate Schiff base complexes

Neutral tetradentate chelate complexes of Cu^II, Ni^II, Co^II, Mn^II, Zn^II and VO^II have been prepared in EtOH using Schiff bases derived from acetoacetanilido-4-aminoantipyrine and 2-aminophenol/2-aminothiophenol. Microanalytical data, magnetic susceptibility, i.r., u.v.–vis., ¹H-n.m.r. and e.s.r. spectral techniques were used to confirm the structures of the chelates. Electronic absorption and i.r. spectra of the complexes suggest a square-planar geometry around the central metal ion, except for VO^II and Mn^II complexes which have square-pyramidal and octahedral geometry respectively. The cyclic voltammetric data for the Cu^II complexes in MeCN show two waves for copper(II) copper(III) and copper(II) copper(I) couples, whereas the VO^II complexes in MeCN show two waves for vanadium(IV) vanadium(V) and vanadium(IV) vanadium(III) couples. The e.s.r. spectra of the Cu^II, VO^II and Mn^II complexes were recorded in DMSO solution and their salient features reported. The in vitro antimicrobial activity of the investigated compounds was tested against the microorganisms such as Salmonella typhi, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Bacillus subtilis, Shigella flexneri, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Aspergillus niger and Rhizoctonia bataicola. Most of the metal chelates have higher antimicrobial activity than the free ligands.