Copper(II) complexes derived from furfurylamine and thiophenyl ligands: cytotoxicity, antioxidant properties, and molecular docking assessments

Abstract

This manuscript describes the synthesis, structural analysis, antioxidant evaluation, cytotoxicity, interaction with DNA, and molecular docking modeling of copper(II) complexes derived from aromatic aldehydes and amines containing furyl and thiophene fragments (C1-C5). All compounds were tested as catalytic mimetics of superoxide dismutase (SOD) using the NBT photoreduction method in a pH 7.8 buffer solution, and structural analysis revealed that all complexes had a quadratic geometry. However, there were important differences in the evaluations with CT-DNA interaction, antioxidant activity, and cytotoxic characteristics. The main interest was to correlate the structure obtained by X-ray diffraction with the tested activities, adding relevant information for future and even deeper applications.