New complexes of Y(III), Zr(IV), and U(VI) with the anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen (IBU) have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, spectroscopic techniques (UVVisible, IR, and 1 H NMR), magnetic moment determination, conductance measurements, and thermal analyses (thermogravimetric and differential thermogravimetric). The anti-inflammatory drug acts as bidentate chelate bound to metal ions through the deprotonated carboxylate. The calculated bond length and force constant, F(U¼O), in the uranyl complex are 1.815 Å and 671.69 Nm À1 , respectively. The metal-ligand binding of the Zr(IV) and Y(III) complexes is predicted using density functional theory at the B3LYP-CEP-31G level of theory and total energy, dipole moment estimation of different Zr(IV) and Y(III) ibuprofen structures. The antibacterial activity of the ligand, metal salts, and metal complexes have been tested, showing that the complexes are significant against all six bacterial species compared with IBU and metal salts.