Synthesis, characterization and anticancer activities of Zn2+, Cu2+, Co2+ and Ni2+ complexes involving chiral amino alcohols

Seven new metal coordination complexes, [NiC15H43N5O11] (I), [Co3C36H98N6O6] (II), [CuC14H32N2O6] (III), [Cu2C32H43Cl2N2O13] (IV), [Zn2C24H32Cl3N3O3] (V), [Co3C48H66Cl6N6O6] (VI), and [Zn (C18H45N3O3] (VII), have been synthesized from some direct reactions of amino-alcoholic ligands with metal salts in anhydrous methanol or ethanol medium. All the crystals of these seven complexes are crystallized in the chiral space groups (P2(1)2(1)2(1) for (I), (IV), (VI) and (VII); P2(1) for (III) and (V); and C-2 for (II), respectively). Their characteristic peaks were analyzed and assigned by FTIR, NMR, and UV-Vis and elemental analysis techniques. The anticancer activities of amino alcohol complexes (I)-(VII) showed cytotoxic effects against the human tumour cell line A549; among them, complex (V) showed the best activity with an IC50 value of 17.8. The higher biological activity should be related to its di-nuclear zinc(ii) unit in which one zinc is only four-coordinated by four small chloride anions.

Automated summary

Seven new metal coordination complexes were synthesized and their anticancer activities against human tumour cells were tested, with one complex showing the best activity. Analysis of the crystal structures and characteristic peaks indicated a correlation between the biological activity and the structure of the compounds.