Antibacterial Activity of Amidodithiophosphonato Nickel(II) Complexes: An Experimental and Theoretical Approach

The reactions of 2,4-bis(4-methoxyphenyl)-1,3-dithio-2,4-diphosphetane-2,4-disulfide (Lawesson's Reagent, LR) with benzylamine (BzNH ) and 4-phenylbutylamine (PhBuNH ) yield benzylammonium -(4-methoxyphenyl)- -benzyl-amidodithiophosphonate (BzNH )(BzNH-adtp) and 4-phenylbutylammonium -(4-methoxyphenyl)- -(4-phenylbutyl)-amidodithiophosphonate (PhBuNH )(PhBuNH-adtp). The relevant nickel complexes [Ni(BzNH-adtp) ] and [Ni(PhBuNH-adtp) ] and the corresponding hydrolysed derivatives (BzNH ) [Ni(dtp) ] and (PhBuNH ) [Ni(dtp) ] were prepared and fully characterized. The antimicrobial activity of the aforementioned amidodithiophosphonates against a set of Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogen bacteria was evaluated, and [Ni(BzNH-adtp) ] and [Ni(PhBuNH-adtp) ] showed antiproliferative activity towards and strains. density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed to shed some light on the activity of reported compounds related to their tendency towards P-N bond cleavage.