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Updated: Jun 19, 2025

Thermochemical Studies of NiII and ZnII Ternary Complexes Using Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry
Published on: June 8, 2022
Synergy of experimental and computational chemistry: structure and biological activity of Zn(II) hydrazone complexes
Milica Savić1, Andrej Pevec2, Nevena Stevanović3
1University of Belgrade - Institute of chemistry, technology and metallurgy Department of chemistry, Njegoševa 12, P.O. Box 815, 11001 Belgrade, Serbia.
Abstract:
In this paper, three different Zn(II) complexes with (E)-2-(2-(1-(6-bromopyridin-2-yl)ethylidene)hydrazinyl)-N,N,N-trimethyl-2-oxoethan-1-aminium chloride (HLCl) have been synthesized and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, IR and NMR spectroscopy. All complexes are mononuclear, with the ligand (L) coordinated in a deprotonated formally neutral zwitterionic form via NNO donor set atoms. Complex 1 forms an octahedral geometry with the composition [ZnL2](BF4)2, while complexes 2 [ZnL(NCO)2] and 3 [ZnL(N3)2] form penta-coordinated geometry. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed to enhance our understanding of the structures of the synthesized complexes and the cytotoxic activity of the complexes was tested against five human cancer cell lines (HeLa, A549, MDA-MB-231, K562, LS 174T) and normal human fibroblasts MRC-5. Additionally, antibacterial and antifungal activity of these complexes was tested against a panel of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, two fungal strains, and a yeast strain. It is noteworthy that all three complexes show selective antifungal activity comparable to that of amphotericin B. Molecular docking analysis predicted that geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate synthase, an enzyme essential for sterol biosynthesis, is the most likely target for inhibition by the tested complexes.
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