Evaluation of antimicrobial and insect repellent properties of two novel Zinc (II), and Nickel(II) complexes containing a tetradentate Schiff Base

Abstract

Schiff bases and their metal complexes are known to have interesting applications in the field of medicine and also in agriculture as they are reported to have antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, anthelmintic, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antiparasitic and antioxidant property. Keeping in view of the pronounced biological activity of the metal complexes of Schiff bases, the proposed study aims to synthesize and characterize some new transition metal complexes of Schiff bases (Zn and Ni) and to investigate their antimicrobial, antifungal and insecticidal activities. The complexes have been characterized by spectroscopic and physicochemical studies. Antimicrobial study showed that nickel complex had higher antibacterial and antifungal effect in comparison to zinc complex. Again Gram positive bacteria were found to more susceptible to the nickel complexes than the Gram negative bacteria. The metal complexes had moderate effect in human pathogenic fungus Candida albicans. Zn complexes had strong repellent action against both stored grain insect species T. castaneum and C.maculatus.