Syntheses, Crystal Structures and in Vitro Antitumor Activities of Copper(II) and Nickel(II) Complexes Based on Acylhydrazone and Imidazole Ligands

Two new complexes [Cu(Him)I](2) (1) and [Ni(Him)L] (2), where H2L is 2-thiophenecarboxylic acid (2-hydroxly-5-nitro-benzylidene)-hydrazide and Him is imidazole, were synthesized by hydrothermal reaction and characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR and electronic spectra. The structure of complexes has been accomplished by single crystal X-ray diffraction which results confirmed that the crystal of 1 belongs to the monoclinic system,space group P2(1)/c with cell parameters: a=1.135 68(12) nm, b=0.770 45(8) nm, c=2.140 4(2) nm, beta=97.405 (3)degrees and the crystal of 2 belongs to the triclinic system, space group P (1) over bar with cell parameters: a=0.726 91(4) nm, b=0.976 34(6) nm, c=1.265 74(8) nm, alpha=79.533(2)degrees, beta=82.862(2)degrees, gamma=68.985(2)degrees. The X-ray analyses revealed that 1 displays a centrosymmetric binuclear structure with the Cu atoms in square pyramidal coordination. The binuclear units are further linked by hydrogen bonds to generate an infinite 1D chain. The mononuclear units in 2 are linked through weak N-H center dot center dot center dot O and C-H center dot center dot center dot O hydrogen bonds to form an infinite 2D network. The in vitro antitumor activities of ligand and complexes were tested by MIT method, which results show that 1 and 2 have strong in vitro antitumor activity against HEPG2 and SW620 cancer cells lines. CCDC: 1041671, 1; CCDC 1041672, 2.