Synthesis of ternary metal complexes of bivalent metal ions with benzimidazole derivative and their antimicrobial studies

A rapid, conventional reflux and efficient procedure is used to synthesize a series of ternary metal complexes derived from Schiff base of 2-aminobenzimidazole with 2-chloroacetophenone and secondary ligands (8-hydroxy quinoline or l-histidine). Our present work focuses on the potential of the synthesized Schiff base, its metal complexes and the study of their antimicrobial activity. All these compounds are characterized by elemental analysis, melting point, magnetic moment measurement, molar conductance measurement and various spectral techniques such as FTIR, 1H NMR, and mass spectra. Among these synthesized complexes, Ni(II) complex having 8-hydroxyquinoline as a secondary ligand exhibits excellent antifungal activity against Aspergillus niger compared to standard Ketoconazole whereas other metal complexes show good to moderate activity against gram-positive bacteria i.e. Staphylococcus aureus and gram-negative bacteria i.e. Escherichia coli compared to standard Ciprofloxacin.