Organotin(IV) N-butyl-N-phenyldithiocarbamate complexes: Synthesis, characterization, biological evaluation and molecular docking studies

Abstract

We report the synthesis and characterization of some organotin(IV) compounds of N-butyl-N-phenyldithiocarbamate complexes represented as [C4H9SnL2] (1), (CH3)2SnL2] (2), (C4H9)2SnL2] (3), (C6H5)2SnL2] (4)], where L is N-butyl-N-phenyldithiocarbamate. Single crystal X-ray analysis of compounds 2 and 3 showed that they possess five or six coordinate geometry. These compounds were evaluated for their antimicrobial properties against Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans and Aspergillus flavus, and in-vitro cytotoxic activities against human cervical carcinoma (HeLa) cells. The antimicrobial studies of the complexes revealed that diaryl substituted organotin(IV) dithiocarbamate complex (4) had the best antimicrobial activity compared to the other complexes. The antimicrobial potency were in the order 2 ˂ 3 ˂ 1 ˂ 4. The IC50 results obtained for the cytotoxic activity showed that the mono-alkyl substituted organotin(IV) dithiocarbamate (1) displayed the least IC50 value. This high activity was due to its selectivity towards the HeLa cell line, compared to the other compounds and the standard drug, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). Furthermore, compounds 3 and 4 also gave lower IC50 values than 5-FU which resulted in better cytotoxicity towards the HeLa cell line. Molecular docking study was used to explore the interactions of the compounds with several drug targets. The compounds showed high binding affinity with the drug targets and agrees well with the antimicrobial study.