Synthesis, characterization, DNA interactions, DNA cleavage, radical scavenging activity, antibacterial, anti-proliferative and docking studies of new transition metal complexes

The compound N-(2-hydroxybenzylidene)-1-ethyl-1, 4-dihydro-7-methyl-4-oxo-1, 8 naphthyridine-3-carbohydrazide (LH) and its Cu (II), Co (II) and Zn (II) complexes were synthesized and characterized. The absorption spectral titrations and competitive DNA binding studies depicted those complexes of title compound bind to CT-DNA through intercalation. Interestingly [Cu (II)-(L-2)] showed relatively high binding constant value (6.61 x 10(5) M-1) compared to [Co (II)-(L-2)] (4.378x 10(5) M-1) and [Zn (II)-(L-2)] (3.1x10(5) M-1). Ligand and its complexes were also examined for DNA nuclease activity against pBR-322 plasmid DNA, which showed that [Cu (II)-(L-2)] had the best hydrolytic cleavage property displaying prominent double-strand DNA cleavage. In addition, antioxidant activities of the ligand and its metal complexes investigated through scavenging effects for DPPH radical in- vitro, indicated their potentiality as good antioxidants. The in vitro anti-bacterial study inferred the better anti-bacterial activity of [Cu (II)-(L-2)] and this was also correlated theoretically by employing docking studies wherein [Cu (II)-(L-2)] displayed good Gold score and Chem score. Finally the in vitro anti- proliferative activity of studied compounds was tested against HeLa and MCF-7 cell lines. Interestingly [Cu (II)-(L-2)] displayed lower IC50 value and lower percentage of viability in both HeLa and MCF-7 cell lines.