Copper(II) Methacrylate Complexes with Imidazole Derivatives—Structural, Spectral and Antitumor Features

A series of five novel copper(II) complexes with imidazole derivatives having general core Cu(R-Im)₂(Macr)₂ (Macr = methacrylate anion; R-Im = 2-methylimidazole/2-MeIm, 4-methylimidazole/4-MeIm, 2-ethylimidazole/2-EtIm, 2-isopropylimidazole/2-<i>i</i>PrIm) has been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), electronic reflectance spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, thermal analysis and single crystal X-ray diffraction. All complexes crystalize in a monoclinic crystal system and form a complex supramolecular network developed through hydrogen bonds. The stereochemistry of the copper ion is distorted octahedral except for the compound with 4-methylimidazole for which the geometry is square-pyramidal. The imidazole derivatives act as unidentate while methacrylate ions are chelated except for compound with 4-methylimidazole where is unidentate. All ligands and complexes inhibited B16 murine melanoma cells in a micromolar range, but the complex with 2-isopropylimidazole was more active. Furthermore, all species do not affect the healthy BJ cells in the concentration range used for assays.