Thiosemicarbazone(s)-anchored water soluble mono- and bimetallic Cu(ii) complexes: enzyme-like activities, biomolecular interactions, anticancer property and real-time live cytotoxicity.

The reactions of CuCl2·2H2O with chromone thiosemicarbazone ligands containing a -H or -CH3 substituent on terminal N yielded monometallic Cu(ii) complexes [Cu(HL1)Cl2] (1) and [Cu(HL2)Cl2] (2), whereas bimetallic Cu(ii) complexes [Cu(μ-Cl)(HL3)]2Cl2 (3), [Cu(μ-Cl)(HL4)]2Cl2 (4) and [Cu(μ-Cl)(L5)]2 (5) were obtained when a -C2H5, -C6H11 or -C6H5 substituent was present, respectively, in the ligands. The complexes were characterized using elemental analyses, UV-Vis, FT-IR, EPR, mass and TGA studies. The structures of neutral monometallic and dicationic bimetallic complexes were confirmed by single crystal X-ray diffraction, and they exhibited a distorted square pyramidal geometry around Cu(ii) ions.