Recent Advances in Urea- and Thiourea-Based Metal Complexes: Biological, Sensor, Optical, and Corroson Inhibition Studies

Ureas and thioureas, otherwise known as carbamides and thiocarbamides, respectively, are rich sources of nitrogen. Urea has a wide range of applications in agriculture, the chemical industry, and automobile systems, and is an important chemical in medical uses. Thiourea, an organosulfur compound, has long been known as an important reagent in organic synthesis, and has been employed in textile processing, used as a source of sulphides, and acts as a precursor in the synthesis of several heterocyclic compounds. The exceptional ligating properties of these compounds enable them to form a large number of complex compounds with transition metals, a vast majority of which find abundant applications in potential areas. This has stimulated researchers to explore novel applications of the synthesized ligands and the metal complexes thereof. This review presents a report of the studies on the biological activities, sensor properties, opical nonlinear properties, corrosion inhibitior potential, and catalytic activities of these compounds and their metal complexes. Graphical abstract