Metal based pharmacologically active complexes of Cu(II), Ni(II) and Zn(II): Synthesis, spectral, XRD, antimicrobial screening, DNA interaction and cleavage investigation

•Synthesis of excellent biological activities of N-acetoacetyl-o-toluidine based complexes.•The complexes flaunt admirable DNA binding and chemical nuclease activity.•Fluorescence emission titration confirms the intercalative binding.•Crystalline nature of synthesized complexes.•Act as admirable intercalative binders.

The present contribution reports a thorough characterization of newly obtained metallointercalators incorporating Schiff bases, formed by the condensation of N-acetoacetyl-o-toluidine with 1-amino-4-nitrobenzene (L1)/1-amino-4-chlorobenzene (L2) as main ligand and 1,10–phenanthroline as co-ligand respectively. The characterization of newly formed metallointercalators has been done by 1H NMR, UV–Vis, IR, EPR spectroscopy and molar conductivity studies. X-ray powder diffraction illustrates that they are crystalline nature. Binding interaction of these complexes with calf thymus (CT-DNA) has been investigated by emission, absorption, viscosity, cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry. DNA binding experiments results reveal that the synthesized complexes interact with DNA through intercalative mode. The in vitro antibacterial and antifungal assay indicate that these complexes are good antimicrobial agents against various pathogens. The DNA cleavage exhibits that they act as efficient cleaving agents.

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