Synthesis, characterization, X-ray crystal structure, DFT calculation and antibacterial activities of new vanadium(IV, V) complexes containing chelidamic acid and novel thiourea derivatives.

Three new thiourea ligands derived from the condensation of aroyl- and aryl-isothiocyanate derivatives with 2,6-diaminopyridine, named 1,1'-(pyridine-2,6-diyl)bis(3-(benzoyl)thiourea) (L1), 1,1'-(pyridine-2,6-diyl)bis(3-(2-chlorobenzoyl)thiourea) (L2) and 1,1'-(pyridine-2,6-diyl)bis(3-(4-chlorophenyl)thiourea) (L3), their oxido-vanadium(IV) complexes, namely [VO(L1('))(H2O)] (C1), [VO(L2('))(H2O)] (C2) and [VO(L3('))(H2O)] (C3), and also, dioxo-vanadium(V) complex containing 4-hydroxy-2,6-pyridine dicarboxylic acid (chelidamic acid, H2dipic-OH) and metformin (N,N-dimethylbiguanide, Met), named [H2Met][VO2(dipic-OH)]2·H2O (C4), were synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, FTIR and (1)H NMR and UV-visible spectroscopies. Proposed structures for free thiourea ligands and their vanadium complexes were corroborated by applying geometry optimization and conformational analysis. Solid state structure of complex [H2Met][VO2(dipic-OH)]2·H2O (triclinic, Pī) was fully determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. In this complex, metformin is double protonated and acted as counter ion. The antibacterial properties of these compounds were investigated in vitro against standard Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains. The experiments showed that vanadium(IV) complexes had the superior antibacterial activities than novel thiourea derivatives and vanadium(V) complex against all Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains.