Synthesis, characterisation, DNA binding, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) activities and molecular docking studies of metal(II) complexes with 1,10-phenanthroline scaffold

A series of metal complexes containing Phenanthroline scaffold [ML] (L-1,10-Phenanthroline derivative comprises conjugated aromatic core and selenol group); M = Cu(II), Zn(II), Co(II) and Zn(II) ions were designed and synthesised to obtain effective anti-cholinesterase efficiencies of metal chelates. Analytical and spectroscopic studies were used to determine the structural features. An octahedral structure with moderate distortion was attributed to the above metal chelates based on spectroscopic data. The distorted octahedral geometry of copper(II) complex to DNA (Kb = 4.05 × 105 M−1) is stronger than that of ethidium bromide (EB) to DNA (Kb = 3.2 × 105 M−1), other metal complexes, respectively. The synthesised 1,10-Phenanthroline derivative had the best inhibitory effects against acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase, with IC50 values of 0.45 and 3.6 M, respectively, which were lower than the reference molecules. As a result, nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compounds (H2L) showed significant inhibitory profiles against the metabolic enzymes. Therefore, we believe that these experimental results may contribute to the development of new drug molecules particularly in the treatment of neurological disorders including glaucoma, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and diabetes. Docking, AChE and BuChE inhibition activities results revealed that ligand may be used for AD. The prepared 1,10-phenanthroline analogue, which has a high selectivity for AChE, may be studied further to find potential candidates for treating early-stage Alzheimer’s symptoms.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma