Synthesis, characterization and biological study of new dinuclear zinc(ii) and nickel(ii) octaaza macrocyclic complexes

Two new nitrato complexes of zinc and nickel with 1,4,8,11-tetrakis(2-pyridylmethyl)-1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane (tpmc), have been synthesized and characterized. The IR spectral peaks showed that the coordinated and ionic nitrate ions are in agreement with the formula proposed by elemental analysis. Conductometric titrations predicted methanol to be a convenient solvent for synthesis and revealed the stoichiometry of the complexes, while molar electrical conductivities indicated a 1 : 3 complex electrolyte type for the zinc complex, and a 1 : 2 complex electrolyte type for the nickel complex. The optimized complex structure was obtained by molecular modeling and density functional theory calculations. The biological activity of the novel complexes was examined by screening eight different bacterial strains and two cancer cell lines. The zinc complex showed better antimicrobial activity against the bacterial strains, while the complexes did not show significance antiproliferative activity toward cancer cells MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231.