Synthesis, characterization, thermal and biological evaluation of Cu (II), Co (II) and Ni (II) complexes of azo dye ligand containing sulfamethaxazole moiety

A novel bioactive Cu (II), Co (II) and Ni (II) complexes of the azo dye ligand (L) derived from sulfamethoxazole were synthesized. The structures of the newly synthesized compounds were characterized by elemental analysis, molar conductance, magnetic susceptibility, FTIR, UV-visible, 1H NMR, mass, thermal and powder XRD spectral techniques. Molar conductivity measurements in DMSO solution confirmed the non-electrolytic nature of the complexes. All the synthesized metal complexes were found to be monomeric and showed square planar geometry except the Co (II) complex which has six coordinate, octahedral environment. The metal complexes have exhibited potential growth inhibitory effect against tested bacterial strains as compared to the free ligand. The ligand and complexes have also shown significant antioxidant and Calf Thymus DNA cleavage activities. Further, the in silico molecular docking studies were performed to predict the possible binding sites of the ligand (L) and its metal complexes with target receptor Glu-6P.