This communication describes a procedure to synthesize a novel Schiff base ligand4-chloro-2-(pyridine-3-yliminomethyl) phenol and its transition metal complexes of Cu(II) and Ni(II)and its characterization by physiochemical techniques such as elemental, FTIR,UVVisible, 1 H-NMR, Mass spectra and cyclic voltammetry. Further, the ligand was structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography and is found to be planar suitable for DNA studies. The complexes were screened for their in-vitro antimicrobial activity using various strains of gram positive and gram negative bacteria- Bacillus mycoides, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Micrococcus luteus, Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Yersinia enterocolitica. The Schiff base ligand showed higher antibacterial activity than the ligand coordinated to either of the metal ion copper or nickel. The DNA cleavage studies of the complexes have been investigated and both the complexes showed extensive cleavage of DNA. However, Cu(II) complexes showed better cleavage activity compared to Ni(II) complex
