Copper(II) and Nickel(II) Complexes of Tridentate Hydrazide and Schiff Base Ligands Containing Phenyl and Naphthalyl Groups: Synthesis, Structural, Molecular Docking and Density Functional Study

In the present study, we report the synthesis, characterization, molecular docking and theoretical studies of two new copper(II) [Cu2(L1)2(py)2]·H2O (1) and nickel(II) [Ni(L2)2] (2) coordination complexes, which are made through the coordination of (E)-N′-(5-bromo-2-hydroxybenzylidene) benzohydrazide (H2L1) and 1-((E)-(2-methoxyphenylimino) methyl) naphthalene-2-ol (HL2), respectively. The H2L1 and HL2 acts as deprotonated tridentate hydrazide and Schiff base ligands containing phenyl and naphthalyl groups, respectively. The molecular structure of (1) and (2) have been confirmed by single crystal X-ray diffraction studies and belongs to the monoclinic and triclinic system of the space group C2/c and P-1, respectively. The X-ray structural determination showed that the structure around Cu(II) was phenoxo-bridged distorted square pyramidal geometry for (1), while complex (2) display octahedral geometry around Ni(II). Binding affinity of (1) and (2) with the DNA generated from molecular docking was − 8.2 and − 9.2 kcal/mol, respectively, while H-pylori urease with binding affinity of − 9.3 and − 12.8 kcal/mol, respectively as predicted with Auto Dock Vina using DFT. The absorption and vibrational analysis of (1) and (2) have been carried out by the long-range corrected density functional theory (LC-DFT). The natural bonding orbital (NBO) analysis has been used to get insight into non-covalent interactions. From LC-DFT calculations, various parameters such as natural population analysis, atomic charges, and HOMO–LUMO energies have been obtained.