Experimental and computational study on antioxidant activity and molecular properties of novel ferrocenyl Schiff bases

Abstract

In this study, antioxidant and molecular properties of some important novel ferrocenyl Schiff bases were studied. The 4-Ferrocenyl aniline synthetic pathway was chosen as the general procedure for the synthesis of Schiff bases. Two experimental techniques, UV–Visible spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry, and one theoretical DFT method was employed to find out their antioxidant activity and molecular properties of some novel ferrocenyl Schiff bases and compared it with standard antioxidant (Ascorbic acid). Maximum wavelength, extinction coefficient, IC30 and IC50 were estimated by using UV–Visible spectroscopy. For theoretical investigations, computational Amsterdam density function software was employed to study the molecular properties and reaction parameters based on density functional theory calculations. The cyclic voltammetry (CV) measurements in electrochemical experiments were done at room temperature while diffusion coefficient was estimated by using CV graphs. UV–Vis spectra of these compounds exhibited similar peaks with greater intensity ranges from 312 nm to 314 nm and smaller intensity ranges 471 nm to 473 nm which occurred because of the only substituent R (naphthoxy, phenoxy and phenoxy) in these compounds. Registered Amsterdam density function was utilized to determine the optimized structure, FTIR spectra, UV–Visible spectra, HOMO, LUMO, dipole moment, ionization potential, electron affinity, band gap, hardness, chemical potential and electrophility index. The overall electrode processes were found to be diffusion controlled and the novel compounds showed appreciable antioxidant activities.