The Manganese(II) and Cobalt(II) Complexes of Enrofloxacin Showed Comparable Antibacterial Activity: Synthesis, Crystal Structure and Antibacterial Activity

Enrofloxacin (EFX) is a third-generation fluoroquinolone drug especially used for animals world wide, which shows broad-spectrum and significant antibacterial activities. In this study, EFX was selected as the ligand to synthesize two transition metal complexes, EFX-Mn and EFX-Co, in which the bio-active metal ions, manganese(II) and cobalt(II), was set to be the active metal center. Their crystal structures were reported and characterized by X-ray single crystal diffraction analysis. Both the crystal structures of EFX-Mn and EFX-Co belong to the same monoclinic crystal system with P21/c space group. Viewed from the crystal structure of EFX-Mn or EFX-Co, the central Mn(II)/Co(II) adapted a six-coordinated octahedral configuration, respectively by two EFX ligands and two H2O co-ligands. The characteristic UV-Vis absorption peaks of both complexes were examined in tris-saline buffer solution in a time-dependent mode in 24 h, which suggested that the coordination status of EFX-Mn and EFX-Co in the solid state still maintained under near-physiological condition. In vitro antibacterial activity tests demonstrated that EFX-Mn and EFX-Co showed similar and significant growth inhibitory effects towards five typical pathogenic bacteria, compared with EFX itself. While for two gram-negative bacterial strains, E. coli and S. typhi, EFX-Mn and EFX-Co showed higher bactericidal effects than EFX, the bactericidal concentration of which was only a half as low as that of EFX.