Cobalt complexes of pyridine carboxaldehyde Schiff bases as cholinesterase inhibitors and anti-proliferative activity

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Novel cobalt complexes of pyridine carboxaldehyde were meticulously designed, synthesized, and subsequently screened to assess their broad spectrum of biological potential. Pyridine carboxaldehyde semicarbazone, thiosemicarbazone, and cobalt chloride served as the initial materials, which were subjected to ultrasonication for the synthesis of the cobalt complexes. Characterization of the obtained compounds was conducted using FTIR, 1 H-NMR, elemental analysis, and both in-silico and in-vitro assessments were performed to evaluate their cholinesterase inhibition and anti-proliferative properties. It was found that all synthesized molecules selectively inhibited acetylcholinesterase within a range of IC50 values from 0.97±0.02 to 6.47±0.71 µM. Notably, CoRx-1Cl2 exhibited non-selective inhibition against both acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase, with IC50 values of 1.91±0.08 and 12.97±2.46 µM, respectively. Subsequent MTT assays and cytotoxic studies were carried out on U-87 and HEK-293 cell lines, revealing that all synthesized compounds were non-toxic to the normal cell line HEK-293. Conversely, cell viability in U-87 cells ranged from 20.93% to 92.9%. These findings suggest that the synthesized cobalt complexes possess a multi-targeting effect and hold potential for use in the management of conditions such as Glioblastoma and Alzheimer’s diseases.