Nano metal complexes of a new carbohydrazone based ligand as potential antitumor agents: Structural elucidation, thermal behavior, molecular modeling, docking simulation, DNA cleavage, and AC conductivity studies

Abstract

New carbohydrazone ligand DCCHP, were prepared by condensing 5,6-diphenyl-4-carbohydrazide-3(2H)-pyridazinone and 3-formyl chromone. Moreover, the new nano Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), Zn(II), Fe(III) complexes, and oxovanadium(IV), dioxouranium(VI) complexes of the ligand DCCHP, in addition of new mixed-ligand complexes using 8-HQ or 2,2′-bipy as an auxiliary ligand, were synthesized. The newly synthesized compounds have been characterized using a variety of analytical and spectroscopic techniques. The results showed that the ligand acted as tridentate towards the metal ions. The complexes exhibited octahedral geometries. According to TEM analysis, the particles of the investigated complexes were located at the nanoscale with spherical and stick shaped. The computational molecular properties revealed that the examined metal complexes may have higher chemical reactivity than the free ligand. The inhibitory activity of the investigated compounds with DNA molecules [of the dodecamer sequence (PDB ID: 1BNA)] were studies by molecular docking simulation. The docking findings showed strong interactions of both the ligand and its Cu(II) complex 7 with DNA. The results of antimicrobial activities showed enhancement in activity of the free ligand upon coordination with the metal ions. Moreover, the nano Cu(II) complex 9 and the nano Zn(II) complex 12 exhibited strong antitumor activities against Hepatocellular carcinoma cell line (HepG-2 cells) with IC50 values smaller than the standard drug cis-platin and may be act as promising antitumor agents against HepG-2 cells. The DNA cleavage investigation demonstrated the capacity of the ligand and its nano Cu(II) complex 7 to destroy DNA. The electrical conductivity study in solid-state confirmed that the ligand and its Cu(II) complexes had semiconducting properties.