A new Schiff base ligand (L) N-(4-fluorophenyl)-1-(4-(((4-fluorophenyl)imino)methyl)phenyl)-
methaninmine was prepared by the condensation of terephthalaldehyde with 4-fluoroaniline in 1:2 molar ratio. The mononuclear complexes of Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) (1-4) have been synthesized in (2:1) ligand to metal ratio. The composition, geometry and binding sites of ligand with metal complexes were evidenced by various spectral methods like molar conductance, elemental analytical data, magnetic measurements, UV-visible, 1H & 13C NMR, ESI-MS, FT-IR, ESR and thermal analysis.
The above studies shows that the ligand is a bidentate and its metal complexes possess an octahedral geometry. Oxidative cleavage of DNA studies of the complexes were monitored by super helix PUC18DNA using a method of agarose gel electrophoresis. Ligand and its metal complexes were screened against gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus), gram negative (Klebsiella pneumoniae) bacterium and fungus (Candida albicans) strains. Antioxidant activities of the metal complexes possess greater activity than ligand.