Abstract
Four new charge-transfer (CT) complexes have been formed in the reaction of the topical antiseptic agent acriflavine (Acf) with the acceptors quinol (QL), picric acid (PA), tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) and dichlorodicyanobenzoquinone (DDQ). The reactions have been studied spectrophotometrically in methanol and the formed solid complexes were isolated and characterized through elemental analysis, electronic absorption, spectrophotometric titration, IR, Raman, H-1-NMR and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) techniques as well as thermal analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The reaction stoichiometries, donor: acceptor molar ratio values, were found to be 1:2 ratio for QL and PA complexes and 1:1 ratio for TCNQ and DDQ complexes. Accordingly the formed CT complexes could be formulated as [(Acf)(QL)(2)], [(Acf)(PA)(2)], [(Acf)(TCNQ)] and [(Acf)(DDQ)]. Finally, the CT complexes were screened for their antibacterial and antifungal activities against various bacterial and fungal strains, and the complex obtained using QL acceptor exhibited good antimicrobial activities against all of the tested strains compared with standard drugs.