Effect of substitution and planarity of the ligand on DNA/BSA interaction, free radical scavenging and cytotoxicity of diamagnetic Ni(II) complexes: A systematic investigation

Four new bivalent nickel hydrazone complexes have been synthesised from the reactions of [NiCl2(PPh3)(2)] with H2L {L = dianion of the hydrazones derived from the condensation of salicylaldehyde or o-hydroxy acetophenone with p-toluic acid hydrazide (H2L1) (1), (H2L2) (2) and o-hydroxy acetophenone or o-hydroxy naphthaldehyde with benzhydrazide (H2L3) (3) and (H2L4) (4)} and formulated as [Ni(L-1)(PPh3)] (5), [Ni(L-2)(PPh3)] (6), [Ni(L-3)(PPh3)] (7) and [Ni(L-4)(PPh3)] (8). Structural characterization of complexes 5-8 were accomplished by using various physico-chemical techniques. In order to study the influence of substitution in the ligand and its planarity on the biological activity of complexes 5-8 containing them, suitable hydrazone ligands 1-4 have been selected in this study. Single crystal diffraction data of complexes 5, 7 and 8 proved the geometry of the complexes to be distorted square planar with a 1 : 1 ratio between the metal ion and the coordinated hydrazones. To provide more insight on the mode of action of complexes 5-8 under biological conditions, additional experiments involving their interaction with calf thymus DNA (CT DNA) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were monitored by UV-visible and fluorescence titrations respectively. Further, the ligands 1-4 and corresponding nickel(II) chelates 5-8 have been tested for their scavenging effect towards OH and O-2(-) radicals. The effect of complexes 5-8 to arrest the growth of HeLa and Hep-2 tumour cell lines has been studied along with the cell viability against the non-cancerous NIH 3T3 cells under in vitro conditions.