Docking of ethanamine Schiff base imines & metal (II) complexes, cytotoxicity & DNA interaction studies

• Synthesis of a novel diphenylethanamine based Schiff bases.
• Structurally solved diphenylethanamine based Schiff bases.
• Complexes binding with CT-DNA are groove binding nature.
• Complexes exhibit a good inhibitory activity against human liver Hep G2 cancer cell lines.
• The docking studies reveal that the imine group and metal complexes as very good grove binding nature.

The present study deals with a series of biologically and stereo chemically important novel transition metal (II) Schiff base chelates. The Cu (II), Co (II), Mn (II) and Ni (II) ions containing complexes were synthesized by using diphenylethanamine and 2-hydroxy/2, 4-dihydroxy/2-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzaldehydes. The synthesized complexes were characterized using micro analytical, IR, NMR, ESI-Mass, UV–Visible, cyclic voltammetry and the EPR spectroscopic techniques. The spectral data evidenced the action of ligands as a neutral bidentate Schiff bases, coordinating through azomethine nitrogen and oxygen atom of hydroxyl group. The interaction studies revealed the groove binding nature of complexes with CT-DNA. The ligand and synthesized metal complexes showed cytotoxicity against cancerous cells. The strong binding affinity of the imine and metal complexes was also confirmed by molecular docking studies.