Effect of structure and composition of nickel(II) complexes with salicylidene Schiff base ligands on their DNA/protein interaction and cytotoxicity.

Three new salicylidene Schiff base nickel(II) complexes [Ni(L(1))(CH3COOH)2]2 (1), [Ni2(L(1))2(CH3OH)] (2), [Ni(L(2))2]·3H2O (3) {H2L(1)=N,N'-bis(salicylidene)-3,6-dioxa-1,8-diaminooctane, HL(2)=2-ethyl-2-(2-hydroxybenzylideneamino)propane-1,3-diol} were synthesized and characterized fully by structural, analytical, and spectral methods. The single-crystal X-ray structures of complexes 1 and 2 exhibit the symmetrical ligands coordinated to the nickel(II) ion in a tetradentate fashion via ONNO donor atoms, while the unsymmetrical ligand L(2) presented a ONO tridentate coordination mode in complex 3. The nickel(II) ions lie in the six-coordinated octahedral environment for the mononuclear complexes 1 and 3, along with dinuclear complex 2. The interaction of the complexes with calf thymus DNA (CT-DNA) has been explored by absorption and emission titration methods, which revealed that complexes 1-3 could interact with CT-DNA through intercalation. The interactions of the complexes with bovine serum albumin (BSA) were also investigated using UV-Vis, fluorescence and synchronous fluorescence spectroscopic methods. The results indicated that all of the complexes could quench the intrinsic fluorescence of BSA in a static quenching process. Further, the in vitro cytotoxic effect of the complexes examined on cancerous cell lines such as human lung carcinoma cell line (A549), human colon carcinoma cell lines (HCT-116), human promyelocytic leukemia cells (HL-60) and colonic cancer cell line Caco-2 showed that all three complexes exhibited substantial cytotoxic activity.