Syntheses, Characterization, and DNA Binding Studies of a Series of Copper(II), Nickel(II), Platinum(II) and Zinc(II) Complexes Derived from Schiff Base Ligands

Abstract

Three series of metal salophen complexes derived from Zn2+, Cu2+, Pt2+ and Ni2+ have been synthesized and their interaction with quadruplex DNA has been evaluated. The compounds differ on the number of ethyl piperidine substituents. They have been characterized by 1H NMR, IR and UV-visible spectroscopies and by HR-mass spectrometry. Their luminescent properties have been also evaluated and we can observe that, as expected, Zn2+ and Pt2+ complexes are those displaying more interesting luminescence with an emission band red-shifted with respect to the corresponding uncoordinated ligand. DNA interactions with G4 and duplex DNA were evaluated by FRET melting assays (for the Zn2+, Cu2+ and Ni2+ complexes) and by emission titrations (for one Pt2+ complex) which indicated that the disubstituted compounds 2-Ni and 2-Pt are the only ones that display good affinity for G4 DNA structures.