Antimicrobial activity and thermal analysis of some new zinc halide/pseudohalide complexes

Schiff bases among the most widely utilized chelating ligands in the development of coordination chemistry. Schiff base compounds containing an imine group (–RC=N–) are usually formed by the condensation reaction between a primary amine and an active carbonyl. Because of the possible variety of the initial reactants for the synthesis of Schiff bases ligands, these compounds show a wide variety of chemical structures with different physicochemical properties[1].In this research, a new symmetric bidentate Schiff base (L) (bis[3-(4-methoxyphenyl)propenaldehydene)]-1,4-buthanediamine and its zinc complexes with general formula of ZnLX2 (X= chloride, bromide, iodide, nitrate, thiocyanate, azide and nitrate) have been synthesized under ultrasonic conditions. The ligand and its complexes have been characterized by molar conductance measurements, FT-IR, 1H and 13C NMR, UV-Visible spectroscopy and thermal analysis. X‐ray powder diffraction and scanning electron microscopy techniques confirmed nanostructure size for these zinc complexes. All the newly prepared compounds were screened for their antimicrobial activities, against four bacterial and two fungal strains using disk diffusion and serial dilution methods. ZnO nanoparticles were prepared by direct calcination process of zinc halide complex at 600°C under air atmosphere.