Abstract
Three barbital-based alkaline earth metal complexes, [Ca(Barb)
2
] · 3H
2
O (1), [Ba
2
H(Barb)
5
] (2) and [Mg(Barb)
2
] · 2H
2
O (3) (Barb = 5,5-diethyl barbiturate sodium salt), were synthesized and characterized with elemental analysis, thermal analysis, and infrared, Raman, ultraviolet, and NMR (
1
H and
13
C) spectroscopies. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies reveal that 2 is a dimer. Each barium(II) is surrounded by an O
7
N
2
donor set in an approximate monocapped square antiprism with Ba-O distances ranging from 2.6512(14) to 2.9168(15) Å and Ba-N distances of 2.7601(15) and 3.2558(17) Å. The complex forms polymeric networks in the solid state with different coordinating abilities of O and N donors and N-H···O hydrogen bonds. The antimicrobial activities of 1-3 were observed against different gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, yeast, and molds. Variable antimicrobial activity against the different bacteria strains was observed and compared with that of standard antibiotics; minimum inhibitory concentration values ranged from 22 to 170 µg mL
−1
for bacteria.