Synthesis, characterization, DNA interaction, molecular docking, and α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibition studies of a water soluble Zn(ii) phthalocyanine

Abstract

In this study, 2(3),9(10),16(17),23(24)-tetrakis-[(N-methyl-(1-benzylpiperidin-4-yl)oxy)phthalocyaninato]zinc(II) iodide (ZnPc-2) was synthesized and characterized using spectral methods (FT-IR, ¹H-NMR, UV-Vis and mass spectroscopy). The interaction of ZnPc-2 with DNA was investigated by using the UV/Vis titrimetric method, thermal denaturation profile, agarose gel electrophoresis and molecular docking studies. Additionally, the antidiabetic activity of ZnPc-2 was revealed spectroscopically by studying α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibition activities. The spectroscopic results indicated that ZnPc-2 effectively binds to calf thymus-DNA (CT-DNA) with a K_b value of 7.5 × 10⁴ M⁻¹ and interacts with CT-DNA via noncovalent binding mode. Gel electrophoresis results also show that ZnPc-2 binds strongly to DNA molecules and exhibits effective nuclease activity even at low concentrations. Furthermore, docking studies suggest that ZnPc-2 exhibits a stronger binding tendency with DNA than the control compounds ethidium bromide and cisplatin. Consequently, due to its strong DNA binding and nuclease activity, ZnPc-2 may be suitable for antimicrobial and anticancer applications after further toxicological tests. Additionally, antidiabetic studies showed that ZnPc-2 had both α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibition activity. Moreover, the α-glucosidase inhibitory effect of ZnPc-2 was approximately 3500 times higher than that of the standard inhibitor, acarbose. Considering these results, it can be said that ZnPc-2 is a moderate α-amylase and a highly effective α-glucosidase inhibitor. This suggests that ZnPc-2 may have the potential to be used as a therapeutic agent for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.