Design, synthesis, characterization, theoretical calculations, molecular docking studies, and biological evaluation of new Fe(II) and Cu(II) complexes of 2-acetylpyridine derivative sulfonyl hydrazone Schiff base

• Published in: Journal of molecular structure 2025-02, Vol.1321, p.140112, Article 140112
• Main Authors: Çınarlı, Murat, Ataol, Çiğdem Yüksektepe, Zeyrek, Celal Tuğrul, Öğütcü, Hatice, Açık, Leyla, Batı, Hümeyra
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 2-acetylpyridine; DFT; Hirsfeld surface; Molecular docking; Sulfonylhydrazone
• ISSN: 0022-2860
• DOI: 10.1016/j.molstruc.2024.140112

•New Fe(II) and Cu(II) complexes of 2-acetyl pyridine derivative sulfonyl hydrazone (LH) have been synthesized.•The structure of the [CuL2] complex has been studied by X-ray diffraction method.•Computational chemistry studies of LH, 1 and 2 were performed using the DFT method.•Antibacterial and DNA interaction studies of the synthesised compounds were carried out.•Molecular docking studies of LH, [FeL2], and [CuL2] with A-DNA (PDB ID:3V9D), B-DNA (PDB ID:1BNA) were performed. Sulfonylhydrazones and their metal complexes are known to have potential biological activity. In this study, new Fe(II) (1) and Cu(II) (2) complexes of the 2-acetylpyridine derivative sulfonyl hydrazone (LH) were prepared. The new metal complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy, UV spectroscopy, and magnetic moment measurements. The molecular structure of (2) was elucidated by X-ray diffraction analysis, and the crystal package was obtained in three-dimensional space. To support the intermolecular interactions obtained from the X-ray diffraction results, Hirshfeld surface analysis and two-dimensional fingerprint maps of (2) were generated. The optimized molecular structures, total energies, molecular orbital energy values, molecular electrostatic potential maps, percentage distributions of the atomic orbitals to the molecular orbital energy levels, and global reactivity parameters of LH, 1, and 2 are obtained by using DFT/B3LYP/6–311G(d, p) for LH and DFT/B3LYP/LanL2DZ for 1 and 2 is 1:2. Elemental analysis showed that the stoichiometric metal/ligand ratio for 1 and 2. All data indicate that the ligand coordinates with the metal atoms via pyridine imine /nitrogens and sulfonyl oxygen. The well-diffusion approach was also used to test the antibacterial properties of the ligand and complexes against harmful microbes. The compounds were tested for DNA cleavage using agarose gel electrophoresis. Complex 1 was found to be effective on the plasmid DNA of pBR322. Finally, molecular docking studies of LH, 1, and 2 with A-DNA (PDB ID:3V9D), and B-DNA (PDB ID:1BNA) were presented to compare the experimental and theoretical results.