Synthesis, characterization, electrochemistry and evaluation of biological activities of some ferrocenyl Schiff bases

Synthesis of ferrocenyl Schiff bases (1-6) was carried out by the condensation reaction of 4-ferrocenyl aniline with different substituted aromatic aldehydes and acetyl acetone. Compounds were characterized by physical measurements, elemental analysis, FT-IR, H-1-NMR and C-13-NMR spectroscopy. Single crystal X-ray analysis of compound 2 showed the co-planarity of both aromatic rings connected by a C-N double bond. Compounds demonstrated reversible one-electron redox behavior and their peak currents were found to increase linearly with the square root of the sweep rate nu(1/2). The overall electrode processes were found to be diffusion controlled. Compounds 1 and 4 showed low cytotoxicity and appreciable antifungal, antioxidant and DNA protection activities. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.