Toxicological assessment of synthesized and characterized transition metal(II) complexes of eflornithine hydrochloride hydrate on albino rats

Transition metal complexes of Cu(II), Co(II) and Ni(II) with eflornithine hydrochloride hydrate (EFN), an antitrypanosomiasis drug, as ligand have been synthesized and characterized by melting point, elemental analysis, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), electronic spectra, magnetic susceptibility and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). The FTIR spectral data suggested the coordination modes of the ligand to be bidentate, coordinated to the metal ions through its carboxylate oxygen atom and an amino nitrogen atom. From the microanalytical data, the stoichiometry of the metal complexes is 1:2 (metal to ligand). The electronic absorption and magnetic susceptibility studies generally suggested octahedral geometry for the metal complexes. Toxicological evaluation of the ligand (EFN) and complexes were carried out using albino rats. Twenty-five albino rats that were used for the experiment were randomly divided into five groups and animals in group 1 served as a control. All the animals were sacrificed twenty-four hours after completion of their doses. The results revealed a high level of toxicity of EFN than the synthesized metal complexes.                     KEY WORDS: Eflornithine hydrochloride hydrate, Carboxylate moiety, Antitrypanosomiasis drug, Toxicological evaluation, Albino rats   Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2020, 34(3), 489-500. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v34i3.