Solid state and solution NMR, X-ray and antimicrobial studies of 1:1 and 2:1 complexes of silver(I) cyanide with alkanediamine ligands

Several complexes of AgCN with alkanediamine ligands have been synthesized and structurally characterized. In these species, alkanediamine ligands act as chelating ligands. The X-ray structure of the complex cyano-(N,N′-di-iso-propyl-ethylenediamine)-silver(I) was determined. There are two types of absorptions observed for mono and dinuclear complexes. For the mono nuclear complexes, a sharp CN band is observed at 2114 cm−1, whereas for binuclear complexes the bands are in the range 2136-2140 cm−1. The antimicrobial activity studies of AgCN and its complexes show that the former exhibits substantial antibacterial activities compared to its complexes.