Synthesis and Physicochemical Studies of Polyvinyl Alcohol Polymer Modified with Copper Thiosemicarbazide Complex

Thiosemicarbazones (TSCs) represent a category of chemical compounds that attract diverse research groups' attention due to their wide and extended applications in different pharmaceutical and agrochemical applications. Complexation reactions between the ligand and CuCl2 resulted in the formation of [Cu2(H2MTS)Cl2(H2O)4 ]. X-ray diffraction data analysis of the studied complex suggests octahedral structure, while characterization through elemental, thermal, magnetic, and spectral (UV, IR, NMR, and ESR) analyses showed the formation of the complex. Thin films of pure polyvinyl alcohol and other samples containing different mass fractions of CuTSCs were successfully prepared through the traditional solution casting technique. Studies of the synthesized thin films show a notable change of crystallinity, optical band gap, refractive index, dielectric primitivity, and other physical properties with increasing copper complex. Besides, synthesized samples show an observed activity against different pathogenic grams. Increasing copper complex content also shows a prominent change in different samples' swelling rates, suggesting that metal complex acts as a controlled cross-linker for polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) polymer.