Antibacterial and Antifungal Studies on Some Schiff Base Complexes of Zinc(II)

Two Schiff base ligands $L_1\;and\;L_2$ were obtained by the condensation of glycylglycine respectively with imidazole-2-carboxaldehyde and indole-3-carboxaldehyde and their complexes with Zn(II) were prepared and characterized by microanalytical, conductivity measurement, IR, UV-Vis., XRD and SEM. The molar conductance measurement indicates that the Zn(II) complexes are 1:1 electrolytes. The IR data demonstrate the tetradentate binding of $L_1$ and tridentate binding of $L_2$. The XRD data show that Zn(II) complexes with $L_1\;and\;L_2$ have the crystallite sizes of 53 and 61 nm respectively. The surface morphology of the complexes was studied using SEM. The in vitro biological screening effects of the investigated compounds were tested against the bacterial species Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumaniae, Proteus vulgaris and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and fungal species Aspergillus niger, Rhizopus stolonifer, Aspergillus flavus, Rhizoctonia bataicola and Candida albicans by the disc diffusion method. A comparative study of inhibition values of the Schiff base ligands and their complexes indicates that the complexes exhibit higher antimicrobial activity than the free ligands. Zinc ions are proven to be essential for the growth-inhibitor effect. The extent of inhibition appeared to be strongly dependent on the initial cell density and on the growth medium.