Synthesis, structure and biological activities of cobalt(II) and zinc(II) coordination compounds with 2-benzimidazole derivatives.

In this work we present the synthesis, structural and spectroscopic characterisation of a series of cobalt(II) and zinc(II) coordination compounds with benzimidazole (bz) and its 2-benzimidazole derivatives: 2-aminobenzimidazole (2ab), albendazole (abz) and tris(2-benzimidazolylmethyl)amine (ntb). The compounds were evaluated for their in vitro antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Micrococcus luteus, Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Proteus vulgaris. Their cytotoxic activity was also evaluated using human cancer lines, HeLa, HCT-15 and SKLU-1.