Synthesis, Crystal Structure, Antibacterial and In Vitro Anticancer Activity of Novel Macroacyclic Schiff Bases and Their Cu (II) Complexes Derived from -Methyl and -Benzyl Dithiocarbazate

A series of novel macroacyclic Schiff base ligands and their Cu (II) complexes were synthesised via reacting dicarbonyls of varying chain lengths with -methyl dithiocarbazate (SMDTC) and -benzyl dithiocarbazate (SBDTC) followed by coordination with Cu (II) ions. X-ray crystal structures were obtained for compound , an SBDTC-diacetyl analogue, and , an SMDTC-hexanedione Cu (II) complex. Anticancer evaluation of the compounds showed that , an SMDTC-glyoxal complex, demonstrated the highest cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells with IC values of 1.7 µM and 1.4 µM, respectively. There was no clear pattern observed between the effect of chain length and cytotoxic activity; however, SMDTC-derived analogues were more active than SBDTC-derived analogues against MDA-MB-231 cells. The antibacterial assay showed that was the most susceptible bacteria to the compounds, followed by . Compound and the SMDTC-derived analogues , , and possessed the highest antibacterial activity. These active analogues were further assessed, whereby possessed the highest antibacterial activity with an MIC of <24.4 µg/mL against and . Further antibacterial studies showed that at least compounds and were bactericidal. Thus, and were the most promising anticancer and antibacterial agents, respectively.