Europium and terbium Schiff base peptide complexes as potential antimicrobial agents against <Emphasis Type="Italic">Salmonella typhimurium</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pseudomonas aeruginosa</Emphasis>

Eu(III) and Tb(III) Schiff base complexes are applicable in various fields such as sensing, assays, screening protocols in vitro, and imaging studies in vitro or in vivo. Fluorescent europium and terbium complexes and their interaction with cell penetrating peptide (KKKRKC) can represent an excellent key for understanding pathway of peptide transportation though cell membrane and the application of Schiff base complexes as potential antibacterial drugs. The Schiff base–metal complexes and its conjugates with peptide were tested for their antibacterial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella typhimurium. Schiff base–metal complexes conjugated with peptide show minor toxicity in normal human PNT1A cells and high antibacterial activity against P. aeruginosa and S. typhimurium, where IC50 down to 125.9 and/or 36.1 µM were found for P. aeruginosa and S. typhimurium, respectively. Our results strongly suggest that Schiff base–metal complexes conjugated with peptide have great potential to be developed into highly effective antibacterial drug.