The utilization of metallodrugs as a viable alternative
to organic
molecules has gained significant attention in modern medicine. We
hereby report synthesis of new imine quinoline ligand (IQL)-based Cu(II) complexes and evaluation of their potential biological
applications. Syntheses of the ligand and complexes were achieved
by condensation of 7-chloro-2-hydroxyquinoline-3-carbaldehyde and
2,2′-thiodianiline, followed by complexation with Cu(II) metal
ions. The synthesized ligand and complexes were characterized using
UV–vis spectroscopy, TGA/DTA, FTIR spectroscopy, 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy, and pXRD. The pXRD diffractogram
analysis revealed that the synthesized ligand and its complexes were
polycrystalline systems, with nanolevel average crystallite sizes
of 13.28, 31.47, and 11.57 nm for IQL, CuL, and CuL
2
, respectively. The
molar conductivity confirmed the nonelectrolyte nature of the Cu(II)
complexes. The biological activity of the synthesized ligand and its
Cu(II) complexes was evaluated with in vitro assays,
to examine anticancer activity against the MCF-7 human
breast cancer cell line and antibacterial activity against Gram-positive
(Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative
(Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) bacterial strains. The CuL complex had the highest cytotoxic potency against MCF-7 breast cancer cells, with an IC50 of 43.82
± 2.351 μg/mL. At 100 μg/mL, CuL induced
the largest reduction of cancer cell proliferation by 97%, whereas IQL reduced cell proliferation by 53% and CuL
2
by 28%. The minimum inhibitory concentration
for CuL was found to be 12.5 μg/mL against the
three tested pathogens. Evaluation of antioxidant activity using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl
revealed that CuL exhibited the highest antioxidant activity
with IC50 of 153.3 ± 1.02 μg/mL. Molecular docking
results showed strong binding affinities of CuL to active
sites of S. aureus, E. coli, and estrogen receptor alpha, indicating its high biological activity compared to IQL and CuL
2
.