Anti‐Malarial and Multi‐Bioactive Co (II), Cu (II) and Ni (II) Salen Complexes: Synthesis, Characterization and Computational Studies

Herein, we report the anti‐malarial, anti‐bacterial and anti‐inflammatory activities of the N2O2 donor tetradentate salen type ligand and its CoL, NiL, and CuL metal complexes. The synthesized compounds were characterized by various spectroscopic analytical methods. The in‐vitro anti‐malarial investigations revealed that the complex CuL exhibited equipotency with quinine drug having IC50 value 0.25 μg/mL. The compound L showed significant inhibition of bacterial spp. viz. E. Coli, P. Aeruginosa, and S. Aureus (MIC=12.5–50 μg/mL), while the compound CoL (MIC=12.5 μg/mL) exhibited potency against gram‐positive bacteria. In the in‐vitro anti‐inflammatory study, the compound CuL displayed moderate activity than other tested compounds. The compound CuL showed the highest anti‐malarial docking score with enzyme pLDH at −8.12 Kcal/mol. The DFT study also gives authentication of higher antimalarial activity of CuL due to high dipole moment. None of the potent compounds was found cytotoxic towards vero cell lines.