Bioactive Silver(I) Complexes with Phenolic Derivatives of Thioglycolic and Thiopropionic Acids

Ag(I) complexes formed by polydentate phenolic derivatives of thioglycolic and thiopropionic acids with Ag(I) ions could be a promising field of search for potential chemotherapeutic agents. Convenient synthetic methods to prepare these ligands have been developed on the basis of addition reactions occurring between S-nucleophiles and o- benzoquinones. The results are presented of physicochemical investigation of Ag(I) ions complexation with phenolic ligands, which made it possible to determine ionic and redox ligand forms with high nucleophilicity of metal-ion binding sites, the peculiarities of the structural organization of the coordination cores of the newly synthesized complexes. The in- vestigation of the molecular and electronic structure of Ag(I) complexes has been performed within the density functional theory framework. On the basis of the pharmacological screening results the selection is justified of a lead compound pos- sessing antibacterial, antifungal and antiherpetic activity comparable to those of some standard drugs to develop effective pharmaceuticals for combination therapy of mixed infections. Data have been obtained on the ability of some phenolic de- rivatives of thioglycolic and thiopropionic acids as well as their Ag(I) complexes to reduce bovine cytochrome c.