Synthesis Characterization and Antimicrobial Evaluation of Ligand Metal Complexes

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance has emerged as a major public health concern of the 21st century that could put into motion another pandemic if left untreated. Antibiotic resistance is a natural phenomenon developed by microorganisms due to exposure to antimicrobial drugs, which kill or inhibit the growth of susceptible bacteria, while naturally resistant or antibiotic-resistant acquired bacteria have a greater chance to survive and multiply. Indiscriminate use of antimicrobials, including poor adherence to treatment guidelines, inadequate dosing, poor sanitation, and lack of education contribute rapid spread and emergence of AMR. Pathogens causing infectious diseases are generally resistant to one or more commonly found antimicrobial drugs. As a consequence, some common pathogenic infections are difficult to treat. The current clinical pipeline has become unable to tackle this growing threat of AMR, so there is an urgent need for the production of new antimicrobials. Presently, most of the antimicrobial drugs in the clinical pipeline are the modified form of pre-existing antimicrobial drugs and made of traditional organic molecular structures, towards which pathogens have already adapted antimicrobial resistance. Traditional organic molecules act on specific biochemical processes such as transcription, replication, and translation. Hence, new antimicrobial drugs must target multiple cellular sites so that they can improve their efficiency against resistant pathogens. newlineNowadays transition metal complexes are gaining attention as possess a wide variety of geometries, oxidation states, coordination numbers, and unique three-dimensional characteristics, which increase their clinical success rate as compared to the available organic compounds having flat structures. According to a few recent reports, metal complexes are less likely to induce resistance in bacteria as compared to conventional organic molecules.