Morita Baylis Hillman Adduct Serves as Ligand in the Synthesis of Transition Metal Complexes Exhibiting Antibacterial Activity

In the present work, Morita—Baylis–Hillman (MBH) adduct ligand 3 was prepared under MBH reaction conditions. The compound was purified by chromatographic techniques and structurally confirmed by methods of spectral analysis. Ligand 3 was separately treated with various salts of transition metals (Mn, Cu, Ce and Lu) under basic conditions with and reflux and stirring. This treatment yielded complexes 5–8, the molecular and structural formulas of which were established by spectral and elemental analysis. Then, complexes 5–8 were checked for their antibacterial potential against four strains (E. coli, S. aureus, P. mirabilis, and P. aeruginosa). Almost all compounds exhibited good activity except Mn and Lu complexes which were inactive against S. aureus and P. aeruginosa, respectively. Cerium complex showed moderate antibacterial activity against all selected strains. Among all, Cu complex was fund to be the most active one against the selected bacterial strains. This study demonstrated the first example of using the MBH adduct as ligand for the formation of complexes.