New copper(II) complex based-thiosemicarbazone and phenanthroline: DNA/BSA binding, antiproliferative activity, DFT and docking studies

A new copper(II) complex {Cu(HPP)}, bromo(1,10-phenanthroline)(triphenylphosphine)copper(I) with 2-hydroxy-5-methoxyacetophenone thiosemicarbazone (HMAT) was synthesized and characterized by experimental FT-IR, Raman, UV–vis, TGA and EPR spectral analysis. The Cu(HPP) was theoretically modeled using the B3LYP/VTZ method/basis set and the values of the spectroscopic parameters were calculated by the DFT method. The coordination geometry around the Cu(II) in the compound was predicted as an elongated octahedral. Spectroscopic investigations showed the intercalative binding mechanism of the Cu(HPP) with calf-thymus deoxyribonucleic acid (ct-DNA). Spectroscopic techniques were also used to evaluate the interaction of the Cu(HPP) with bovine serum albumin (BSA), which revealed that the Cu(HPP) could bind to BSA significantly. In addition, the molecular docking between the Cu(HPP) and BSA was investigated to support the bonding mechanism. Further, we studied the anticancer activity of the Cu(HPP) in drug resistant breast cancer cell line (MDA-MB-231), with a focus on the proliferative characteristics. Our findings emphasize that this newly synthetized complex has a significant cytotoxic effect on the cells and can be utilized as a candidate chemotherapeutic agent to effectively target breast cancer.