New Palladium(II) complexes with ONO chelated hydrazone ligand: Synthesis, characterization, DNA/BSA interaction, antioxidant and cytotoxicity

New palladium(II) complexes containing 3,5-dichloro-2-hydroxy-benzaldehyde hydrazone were synthesized and characterized by various analytical, spectral and crystallographic techniques. The synthesized compounds have been subjected to study their DNA and protein binding affinity with CT-DNA and BSA protein. And their antioxidant activity and in vitro cytotoxic potential were evaluated. [Display omitted] •Two palladium(II) hydrazone complexes were synthesized and characterized.•Molecular structure of ligand (1) and complex (3) was confirmed by X-ray diffraction study.•The complexes exhibited intercalation binding ability on DNA/BSA.•The synthesized complexes showed good antioxidant activities.•The cytotoxicity in vitro of synthesized compounds against two tumor cell lines was investigated. There is a continuous finding of suitable metal complexes for biomedical and biological applications since the discovery of cisplatin. Two biologically active complexes (2 and 3) are synthesized by using 2-chloro-benzoic acid (3,5-dichloro-2-hydroxy-benzylidene)-hydrazide (1) ligand. The ligand (1) and complexes (2 &3) are characterized by various spectroscopic tools. The molecular structures of (1) and (3) are confirmed via., XRD data. The spectroscopic and XRD data reveals that the ligand coordinates to palladium through ONO chelation and the geometry of the complexes is distorted square planar. The in vitro interaction of the synthesized compounds with calf-thymus DNA (CT-DNA) are analysed through different experiments which shows the intercalation mode of binding. Further, the interaction studies of the compounds with bovine serum albumin protein (BSA) show that, the compounds binds strongly with BSA. Also, antioxidant studies have been carried out with the compounds. Finally, MTT assay reveals that, the Pd(II) complexes displayed significant activity against HeLa and MCF-7 cancer cell lines.