Synthesis, Crystal Structures, DNA Cleavage and DNA-binding Studies of Ho(Ⅲ) and Er(Ⅲ)Complexes Based on Macrocyclic Schiff Base

Two novel macrocyclic Schiff base complexes [LnL(PhCOO)(CH3OH)](ClO4)2·(CH3OH)2(Ln =Ho, 1; Ln = Er, 2), in which L denotes the macrocyclic ligand, were synthesized via condensation of 2,6-diformyl-4-methyl-phenol and 1,3-diamino-2-propanol by employing benzoate as the second ligand. Their crystal structures were determined by X-ray diffraction, which showed that both complexes belong to a monoclinic system with space group P21/c. The coordination polyhedron displayed a distorted bicapped trigonal prism with the coordination number of eight. Both complexes efficiently cleaved supercoiled DNA to its nicked circular form. The UV-vis absorption results and ethidium bromide(EB) fluorescence spectra indicated that the complexes bind to CT-DNA in an intercalative mode, with Ksqvalues to be 11830 and 10560, respectively.