Comment on “Synthesis, spectral characterization, molecular docking studies, and larvicidal activity of some transition metal complexes with Schiff base ligand” published by M. Begum et al. [J. Iran. Chem. Soc. 22 1391–1406 (2025)]
摘要
M. Begum et al. in their article “Synthesis, spectral characterization, molecular docking studies, and larvicidal activity of some transition metal complexes with Schiff base ligand” (J. Iran. Chem. Soc. 22, 1391–1406 (2025)) reported on the synthesis of a Schiff base ligand 5-(((7-chlorobenzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)imino)methyl)-2-methoxyphenol (HL) and its complexes [ML2] (M = Cu(II), 1; Co(II), 2; Ni(II), 3; Mn(II), 4; Zn(II), 5). The parent organic ligand was synthesized by the condensation reaction of 2-amino-4-chlorobenzothiazole with 3-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzaldehyde either in MeOH, which is mentioned in the Experimental section, or EtOH, which is mentioned in Scheme describing the synthesis of HL. The obtained ligand HL was reacted with the corresponding MCl2 salts in MeOH, yielding complexes 1–5, which were characterized by mass spectrometry, IR and UV–Vis spectroscopy. The ligand HL, and complexes 3 and 5 were also characterized by NMR spectroscopy. Thermal behavior of complexes 1–5 was also studied using TGA. In addition, the biological activities of HL and 1–5 were probed and the obtained results were corroborated using a molecular docking approach. Despite the accumulated data to support the formation of the reported complexes 1–5, we herein argue that the IR, UV–Vis and 1H NMR data of at least these complexes are doubtful. In this comment, we provide a step-by-step critical analysis of the discussed article.