Two silver(I) aminoacidate complexes {[Ag-4(L-HAla)(4)(NO3)(3)]NO3}(n) (AgAla, complex 1, Ala = alanine) and {[Ag (L-Phe)]}n (AgPhe, complex 2, Phe = phenylalanine) were prepared and characterized by elemental, spectral analysis (FT-IR, NMR techniques) and single crystal X-ray analysis in solid state and their solution stability was measured in biological testing time-scale by 1H NMR. The bridging coordination modes of the zwitterionic Ala and deprotonated Phe ligands led to the formation of 1D polymeric chains of the complexes.
The significant argentophilic interactions are presented in the structure of AgAla. Antimicrobial testing of prepared Ag(I) complexes was evaluated by IC50 and MIC values and were compared with AgGly, silver(I) sulfadiazine and AgNO3 samples.
Moreover, MTS test was used to the testing of broad range antiproliferative activity of studied compounds against different cancer cell lines and also to the investigation of calf thymus DNA interactions by absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, Ethidium bromide/Hoechst 33258 displacement experiments and circular dichroism spectroscopy. To evaluate the pUC19 DNA fragmentation by silver(I) complexes, the agarose gel electrophoresis was used.
In addition to biological evaluation we used lipophilicity measurement results in the discussion about structure-activity relationship (SAR).