Novel organoselenium-based N-mealanilic acid and its zinc (II) chelate: Catalytic, anticancer, antimicrobial, antioxidant, and computational assessments

•Novel Zn(II) 4-((4-(methylselanyl)phenyl)amino)-4-oxobut-2-enoic acid complex was synthesized.•The catalytic reactivity of the zinc chelates was assessed in different oxidation reactions.•The anticancer and antimicrobial properties were examined against various human cancer cells and microbial strains.•The antioxidant activity and the DNA intercalation affinity were evaluated.•In-silico assessments were performed employing the Gaussian 09 and Swiss-ADME. Herein we report the synthesis of two novel Zn(II)-complexes (Zn(LgSe)2 and Zn(Lg)2) starting from 4-((4-(methylselanyl)phenyl)amino)-4-oxobut-2-enoic acid (HLgSe) and 4-oxo-4-(p-tolylamino)but-2-enoic acid (HLg) ligands, respectively. The anticancer and antimicrobial properties of the ligands and their Zn(II)-complexes were estimated against different human cancer cell lines and microbial strains. Furthermore, the catalytic activities of Zn(II)-complexes were evaluated in the epoxidation of 1,2-cyclohexene and benzyl alcohol reactions. Moreover, the antioxidant properties and the DNA intercalation affinity were also assessed using various biological experiments. The computational aspects were considered via the Gaussian 09 software for the geometry optimization and the Swiss-ADME link for the in-silico assessments. The biological, catalytical, and theoretical results point to a superior activity of the organoselenium ligand and complex to the non-selenated analogs.