Synthesis and spectroscopic characterization of new tetradentate Schiff base and its coordination compounds of NOON donor atoms and their antibacterial and antifungal activity

New Schiff base (H2L) ligand is prepared via condensation of o-phthaldehyde and 2-aminobenzoic acid in 1:2 ratio. Metal complexes are prepared and characterized using elemental analyses, IR, solid reflectance, magnetic moment, molar conductance, 1H NMR, ESR and thermal analysis (TGA). From the elemental analyses data, the complexes were proposed to have the general formulae [MCl(L)(H2O)]·2H2O (where M = Cr(III) and Fe(III)); [M(L)]·yH2O (where M = Mn(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II), y = 1–2) and [M(L)(H2O)n]·yH2O (where M = Co(II) (n = y = 2), Co(II) (n = y = 1), Ni(II) (n = 2, y = 1). The molar conductance data reveal that all the metal chelates were non-electrolytes. IR spectra show that H2L is coordinated to the metal ions in a bi-negative tetradentate manner with NOON donor sites of the azomethine-N and carboxylate-O. The 1H NMR spectral data indicate that the two carboxylate protons are also displaced during complexation. From the magnetic and solid reflectance spectra, it was found that the geometrical structure of these complexes are octahedral (Cr(III), Fe(III), Co(II) and Ni(II)), square planar (Cu(II)), trigonal bipyramidal (Co(II)) and tetrahedral (Mn(II), Ni(II) and Zn(II)). The thermal behaviour of these chelates showed that the hydrated complexes losses water molecules of hydration in the first step followed immediately by decomposition of the ligand molecule in the subsequent steps. The biological activity data show that the metal complexes to be more potent/antibacterial than the parent Shciff base ligand against one or more bacterial species.