Synthesis, characterization, DNA binding and in vitro antimicrobial studies of a novel tetra-substituted N-isopropyl-N-(4-ferrocenylphenyl)-N'-(2,6-diethylphenyl)-N″-benzoylguanidine: crystallographic structure and quantum chemical computations.

A novel tetra-substituted guanidine, N-isopropyl-N-(4-ferrocenylphenyl)-N'-(2,6-diethylphenyl)-N″-benzoylguanidine (1), [(CH3)2CH)(C5H5FeC5H4C6H4)NC(NHCOC6H5)(NHC6H3(CH2CH3)2] has been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, multinuclear ((1)H, (13)C) NMR spectroscopy, single crystal X-rays diffraction analysis and density functional theory based quantum chemical calculations. The torsion angles indicating that the guanidine moiety and carbonyl group are almost co-planar, due to the pseudo hexagonal ring formed by intramolecular N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds. The DNA interaction studies performed by cyclic voltammetry and UV-visible spectroscopy are in close agreement with the binding constants (K) 1.4×10(4) and 1.2×10(4) respectively. The shift in peak potential, current and absorption maxima of the studied ferrocenyl guanidine in the presence of DNA discovered that CV coupled with UV-vis spectroscopy could provide an opportunity to elaborate DNA interaction mechanism, a prerequisite for the design of new drug like agents and understanding the molecular basis of their action. The synthesized compound (1) has also been screened for their antibacterial and antifungal.