Objective: Coordination compounds occur widely in nature and they comprise a large share of current inorganic research. The Mannich reaction is a classic method for the preparation of Mannich bases, namely, β amino compounds, which are heterocyclic. Methods: A novel Mannich base of N-((3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)(2,5-dioxopyrrolidin-1-yl) methyl)benzamide and its coordination complexes with transition metals Mn and Co have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, molar conductance, magnetic susceptibility measurements, UV-Visible, IR, NMR, and Mass spectral studies. Results: Based on the magnetic moment and UV-Visible spectral data, octahedral geometries were assigned for the metal complexes. The metal complexes were screened for antifungal activity. Conclusion: the metal complexes have shown good activity than the ligand. The binding of selected metal complexes with calf thymus DNA was investigated. It is found that the cobalt (II) metal complex of the ligand showed efficient DNA binding ability.