Studies on Functionalization of N,O‐ and O,O‐ Chelated Novel Boron Complexes

Herein, we report two novel boron complexes of the type [(L)B(OC 6 H 4 O)] synthesized from an o ‐hydroxyaryl ketimines Schiff bases viz. ( E )‐2‐(1‐( p ‐tolylimino)ethyl)phenol (HL 1 )/( E )‐2‐(1‐( o ‐tolylimino)ethyl)phenol (HL 2 ), and 2‐isopropoxy‐1,3,2‐benzodioxoborole [(Pr i O)B(OC 6 H 4 O)] in benzene. The Schiff bases and boron complexes were characterized by elemental analyses, FT‐IR, NMR, and HRMS studies. The spectral and X‐ray analysis reveal that boron complexes are tetra‐coordinated through O, O‐ atoms of the 1,2‐dihydroxybenzene moiety and N,O‐ atoms of Schiff bases and they adopt a distorted tetrahedral geometry around boron atom. The DNA cleavage activities of Schiff bases and their boron complexes were assessed using agarose gel electrophoresis method. Our findings reveal that both the parent Schiff bases and their corresponding boron complexes exhibit significant DNA cleavage potency.