According to evidence in the literature, organic salts have an affinity for biological membranes that makes them easily absorbed into cells and capable of having a wide range of biological effects, such as broad antibacterial potential and anticancer activ-ity. The present work describes the preparation of three organic salts with a common decyl-1,10-phenanthrolinium cation ([C22H25N2] +) differing in the anions (Br-, PF6 - and (CF3SO2)2N -). The synthesis was confirmed using spectrometry methods (NMR ( 1 H 13 C, 19 F, 31 P), ESI MS, Uv-Vis), CHNSBr elemental and thermal analysis as well as conductivity mea-surements. In vitro biological activities were tested on two Gram-positive ( Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Streptococci pyogenes (S. pyogenes)) and two Gram-negative (Escherichia coli (E. Coli) and Klebsiellae pneumoniae (K. Pneumoniae)) bacteria and compared with a commercial antibiotic (Gentamicin). The salt with the halide anion demonstrated better inhibition activities than the commercially available gentamicin. Their ion-conductivity in ethanol was found to decrease in the order [C22H25N2][PF6], [C22H25N2][(CF3SO2)2N] and [C22H25N2]Br while, their thermal stability was found to increase in the order [C22H29N2]Br, [C22H29N2][PF6], and [C22H29N2][(CF3SO2)2N]. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values show that the salts could inhibit bacterial growth at concentrations as low as 50 & mu;g/L. Passing the cytotoxicity investigations, these salts can be considered as alternative antibiotics in combating the emerging drug resisting bacteria. & COPY; 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
