Tetranuclear Cu(ii)-chiral complexes: synthesis, characterization and biological activity.

Tetranuclear chiral Cu(ii)-Schiff-base complexes S-1 and R-1, were synthesised using enantiomerically pure ( S )-(H 2 vanPheol) and ( R )-(H 2 vanPheol) ligands respectively in the ratio of 1 : 1 of Cu(NO 3 ) 2 to ( S / R )-(H 2 vanPheol) in MeOH at room temperature. A pair of polynuclear chiral Cu(ii)-cluster complexes were characterized using single-crystal X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, infrared and CD spectroscopy. The results revealed the importance of these chiral ligands encouraging the arrangement of copper metal in non-centrosymmetric polar packing. The potential of the novel [Cu 4 ( S / R -vanPheol) 2 ( S / R -HvanPheol) 2 (CH 3 OH) 2 ](NO 3 ) 2 complexes as biologically active compounds was assessed in particular regarding their anti-proliferative and anti-microbial properties.