Abstract
M.Sc.
The increasing number of individuals living with the HIV virus and the extensive use of antimicrobial medicines has resulted in an increase in opportunistic infections such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, fungal, and viral diseases. In addiction, the drugs currently in use have short comings such as limited efficacy, cell membrane penetration and side effects. The increasing number of opportunistic infections such as systemic fungal infections and the development of resistance to commonly used drugs have prompted the search for answers by producing new and novel ones.
Dithiocarbamates (DTCs) have been a subject of major research in the past decade and a number of these compounds have been prepared. Dithiocarbamates are versatile 1,1-dithiolato ligands with broad pharmacological properties. Coordinating these ligands with metals such as copper and nickel may produce compounds with enhanced biological properties and this can be a basis for novel compounds. On the other hand, triphenylphosphine (PPh3) is a good binding ligand for transition metals. Further functionalization of the DTC metal complexes with triphenylphosphine should produce compounds with potential pharmaceutical applications.
In this study, several bioactive starting compounds such as indole, imidazole, cyclopentylamine and cyclohexylamine were used to synthesize DTC ligands and their metal complexes of Ni, Co, Cu and Zn. The ligands were obtained in good yields of 55-87% with the complexes in yields of 35-66%. Triphenylphosphine adducts of the DTC metal complexes were also prepared and the yields obtained were between 35-71%. All the prepared complexes and ligands were characterized by Infrared, UV-Vis spectroscopy and NMR (1H, 13C and 31P) spectroscopy.