A zinc(II) quinolinone complex (Et3NH)[Zn(qui)Cl2]: Synthesis, X-ray structure, spectral properties and in vitro cytotoxicity

• The first zinc(II) quinolinone complex was synthesized and characterized.
• The compound is composed of triethylammonium cation and [Zn(qui)Cl2] anion.
• Secondary structure shows a zig–zag 1D supramolecular architecture.
• The fluorescence of the complex is enhanced as compared to free Hqui ligand.
• The compound displays no relevant in vitro cytotoxicity against HOS and MCF7.

A new zinc(II) complex with 2-phenyl-3-hydroxy-4(1H)-quinolinone (Hqui) of the composition (Et3NH)[Zn(qui)Cl2] was prepared and characterized by elemental analysis, FT IR, 1D and 2D NMR, and fluorescence spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and single crystal X-ray analysis. The molecular structure is composed of the triethylammonium (Et3NH+) cations and tetrahedral [ZnII(qui)Cl2]− complex anions, in which the Zn(II) atoms are bidentate coordinated by one qui ligand through keto (OK) and phenolate (OP) oxygen atoms and by two chlorido ligands, thus forming the {O2Cl2} donor set, with Zn–OK = 1.9860(14) Å, Zn–OP 1.9961(14) Å and Zn–Cl = 2.2509(6) Å and 2.2266(6) Å. The complex cations are aligned into 1D supramolecular chains through the NH⋯Cl hydrogen bonding between the amine group of the quinolinone ligand and the chlorido ligand of the adjacent complex anion. The amine group from the Et3NH+ cations provides the NH⋯OP hydrogen bond with the phenolate oxygen atoms from the complex anion. Screening of in vitro cytotoxicity of the compound was studied on human osteosarcoma (HOS) and human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF7) cell lines, with IC50 > 50 μM. The fluorescence study showed that the complex exhibits a relatively high integral intensity (29%) as compared to the standard quinine sulfate, and 1.6-fold enhancement of emission with respect to free Hqui.

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