Structural, spectral and biological studies of (E)-2-((2-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)hydrazineylidene)methyl)-4,6-dibromophenol (HL) and its metal complexes of Mn(II), Cu(II), Co(II), Ni(II), and Zn(II)

•Synthesis of ligand and metal complexes.•The molar ratio of metal to the ligand in all of the complexes is 1:2.•UV–Visible spectrophotometer analysis of the Ct-DNA interaction with the metal complexes.•A spectral characterization confirmed by FT-IR, 1H NMR, P-XRD and EDX-SEM.•Metal complexes show cytotoxic efficiency towards HeLa and MCF-7 Cancerous cells.