Synthesis, Structural Investigations, and Potential Antimicrobial and Anticancer Activity of Mononuclear Zn(II) and Cd(II) Complexes Decorated by Morpholine/Pyrazole s‐Triazine Ligand.

ABSTRACT The structure and biological diversities of [Zn(BPTMorph)(H2O)3](ClO4)2 (<bold>1</bold>), [Zn(BPTMorph)(NO3)2] (<bold>2</bold>), and [Cd(BPTMorph)(NO3)2] (<bold>3</bold>) complexes were described. In all complexes, the Zn(II) and Cd(II) ions are coordinated with one 4‐(4,6‐<italic>bis</italic>(3,5‐dimethyl‐1<italic>H</italic>‐pyrazol‐1‐yl)‐1,3,5‐triazin‐2‐yl)morpholine (<bold>BPT</bold><bold>Morph</bold>) molecule as a pincer <italic>NNN</italic>‐chelate. The rest of the coordination sphere was found to depend on the type of anion. In <bold>1</bold>, there are three coordinated water molecules leading to a distorted octahedral geometry around Zn(II). In <bold>2</bold> and <bold>3</bold>, there are two coordinated NO3− groups that differ in their coordination modes. The two NO3− groups are monodentate in <bold>1</bold> and bidentate in <bold>3</bold>. Hence, the coordination numbers of Zn(II) and Cd(II) are 5 and 7, respectively. Supramolecular structure investigations indicated the importance of O···H contacts in the molecular packing. The percentages of O···H contacts are 35.4%–36.1%, 44.8%, and 39.7% in complexes <bold>1</bold>–<bold>3</bold>, respectively. The energy breakdown for the intermolecular interactions was performed using energy framework analysis to explore the forces that dominate these interactions. Anticancer activity of complexes <bold>1</bold>–<bold>3</bold> and <bold>BPT</bold><bold>Morph</bold> against HepG‐2, MCF‐7, and A‐549 cancerous cells was presented. The best result is found for complex <bold>3</bold> against A‐549 where the IC50 is 2.77 ± 0.26 μg/mL and selectivity index is 12.5 although the corresponding values for <bold>BPT</bold><bold>Morph</bold> are 32.39 ± 2.82 μg/mL and 2.7, respectively. In addition, <bold>3</bold> outperformed the anticancer drug <italic>cis</italic>‐platin against all cell lines. The antimicrobial activity of <bold>3</bold> is the best compared to <bold>1</bold>, <bold>2</bold>, and <bold>BPT</bold><bold>Morph</bold>. Interestingly, <bold>3</bold> showed antibacterial efficiency comparable to gentamycin against Proteus vulgaris. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]