Synthesis, Crystal Structure, DNA Binding, and Cytotoxicity of a Zn(II) Complex Constructed from Phenylacetic Acid

Abstract

A novel Zn(II) complex with the formula {[ZnL₂(dibe)₂]·2H₂O}_n (synthesized using a carboxylic acid ligand, L = phenylacetic acid, dibe = 4,4′-bipyridine (bipy)) is synthesized at room temperature, characterized and its DNA binding, cleavage, anticancer properties are studied by elemental analysis, infrared spectroscopy, and single crystal X-ray diffraction. The interaction of the complex with fish sperm DNA (FS-DNA) is monitored, which reveals that the complex has the ability to bind to FS-DNA. The complex is further studied for the gel electrophoresis assay with supercoiled plasmid pBR322 DNA. In addition, anticancer activities of the metal complex investigated through MTT in vitro assays, indicate that the complex shows good cytotoxic activity against cancer cell lines. Flow cytometry and apoptosis experiments show that the complex induces apoptosis of HeLa cells, which demonstrates that the complex exhibits a significant cancer cell inhibitory rate.