Synthesis, physicochemical properties, biological, molecular docking and DFT investigation of Fe(III), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) complexes of the 4-[(5-oxo-4,5-dihydro-1,3-thiazol-2-yl)hydrazono]methyl}phenyl 4-methylbenzenesulfonate Schiff-base ligand

Abstract

A new Schiff-base ligand, 4-[(4-oxo-4,5-dihydro-1,3-thiazol-2-yl)hydrazono]methylphenyl 4-methylbenzenesulfonate (L), and its Fe(III), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) complexes were synthesized and characterized. Elemental analysis, NMR spectroscopy, mass spectra, FT-IR analysis, molar conductivity, magnetic susceptibility tests and electronic spectra (UV-vis.) were all used to describe the ligand and its metal complexes. The complexes of Ni(II) and Zn(II) were found to have a tetrahedral structure, whereas those of Fe(III), Co(II) and Cu(II) exhibited an octahedral structure. The geometry of the ligand and its metal complexes was investigated by density functional theory (DFT) calculations at the B3LYP/6-311G(d, p) and LanL2dz levels of theory, respectively. To round out the picture, we evaluated not only the overall energy but also the HOMO and LUMO molecular orbitals and the molecular electrostatic potential (MEP). The synthetic analogues were tested for their in vitro antibacterial and antifungal efficacy against various pathogens using the disc diffusion method. The research shows that the metal complexes are more effective against these diseases than the free ligand. In addition, the DPPH method was used to measure the antioxidant activity in vitro. The antioxidant activity of each complex was higher than that of its free corresponding ligand. Molecular docking was carried out to determine the interactions between the complexes and the probable binding sites of Human Peroxiredoxin 2 Oxidized (PDB ID: 5IJT) and Escherichia coli (PDB ID: 3t88) receptors.