Abstract
The two ligands 2-(1-(2-(4,6-dimorpholino-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)hydrazono)ethyl)aniline (
DMAT
) and 2-(1-(2-(4,6-dimorpholino-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)hydrazono)ethyl)phenol (
DMOHT
) were used to synthesize three heteroleptic Cu(II) complexes via a self-assembly technique. The structure of the newly synthesized complexes was characterized using elemental analysis, FTIR and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to be [Cu(DMAT)(H
2
O)(NO
3
)]NO
3
.C
2
H
5
OH (
1
), [Cu(DMOT)(CH
3
COO)] (
2
) and [Cu(DMOT)(NO
3
)] (
3
). X-ray single-crystal structure of complex
1
revealed a hexa-coordinated Cu(II) ion with one
DMAT
as a neutral tridentate
NNN
-chelate, one bidentate nitrate group and one water molecule. In the case of complex
2
, the Cu(II) is tetra-coordinated with one
DMOT
as an anionic tridentate
NNO
-chelate and one monodentate acetate group. The antimicrobial, antioxidant and anticancer activities of the studied compounds were examined. Complex
1
had the best anticancer activity against the lung carcinoma A-549 cell line (IC
50
= 5.94 ± 0.58 µM) when compared to
cis
-platin (25.01 ±2.29 µM). The selectivity index (SI) of complex
1
was the highest (6.34) when compared with the free ligands (1.3–1.8), and complexes
2
(0.72) and
3
(2.97). The results suggested that, among those compounds studied, complex
1
is the most promising anticancer agent against the lung carcinoma A-549 cell line. In addition, complex
1
had the highest antioxidant activity (IC
50
= 13.34 ± 0.58 µg/mL) which was found to be comparable to the standard ascorbic acid (IC
50
= 10.62 ± 0.84 µg/mL). Additionally, complex
2
showedbroad-spectrum antimicrobial action against the microbes studied. The results revealed it to possess the strongest action of all the three complexes against
B. subtilis
. The MIC values found are 39.06, 39.06 and 78.125 μg/mL for complexes
1
–
3
, respectively.