<i>One</i>-<i>pot</i> synthesis, characterization, DNA binding and enzymatic studies of 4-methyl <i>trans</i>-cinnamate zinc(II)-mixed ligand complexes
<div><p>Four new zinc(II) complexes formulated as [Zn(L)<sub>2</sub>] (<b>1</b>), [Zn(L)<sub>2</sub>(phen)] (<b>2</b>), [Zn(L)<sub>2</sub>(bipy)H<sub>2</sub>O] (<b>3</b>), and [Zn(en)<sub>2</sub>(H<sub>2</sub>O)<sub>2</sub>](L)<sub>2</sub>(H<sub>2</sub>O)<sub>2</sub> (<b>4</b>), where HL = 4-methyl <i>trans</i>-cinnamic acid, bipy = 2,2′-bipyridine, phen = 1,10-phenanthroline, and en = ethylenediamine, have been synthesized and characterized by FT-IR and NMR spectroscopy. Single-crystal XRD revealed distorted square-pyramidal structure for <b>3</b> and octahedral for <b>4</b>. The complexes were screened for DNA interaction via viscommetry and UV–visible spectroscopy. The apparent binding constants were calculated to be 1.18 × 10<sup>4</sup>, 1.26 × 10<sup>5</sup>, 4.64 × 10<sup>4</sup><sub>,</sub> and 1.89 × 10<sup>4</sup> for <b>1</b>–<b>4</b>, respectively. The binding propensity to salmon sperm DNA was in the order: K<sub>2</sub> > K<sub>3</sub> > K<sub>4</sub> > K<sub>1</sub>. Furthermore, these complexes demonstrated efficient inhibition of alkaline phosphatase, which was attributed to the binding of zinc(II) to the enzyme’s active site.</p></div
