Synthesis, crystal structure and pharmacological evaluation of two new Cu(II) complexes of 2-oxo-1,2-dihydroquinoline-3-carbaldehyde (benzoyl) hydrazone: a comparative investigation.

Two new copper(II) complexes have been synthesized by reacting 2-oxo-1,2-dihydroquinoline-3-carbaldehyde (benzoyl) hydrazone (H(2)L) with CuCl(2)·2H(2)O or Cu(NO(3))(2)·3H(2)O. The structures of the complexes have been determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction studies. Results obtained using spectroscopic methods strongly suggested that the ligand and its Cu(II) complexes could interact with calf thymus DNA through intercalation. In the case of protein binding, the obtained results indicated that all the three compounds could quench the intrinsic fluorescence of bovine serum albumin through static quenching process. In addition, antioxidant activity tests showed that H(2)L and its copper(II) complexes possess significant scavenging effect against free radicals. Further, the two copper(II) complexes exhibited effective cytotoxic activity against a panel of human cancer cell lines.