Synthesis, characterization, biological activity and electrochemistry studies of iron(III) complex with curcumin‐oxime ligand

Abstract Iron overload is a key target in drug development. This study aimed to investigate the coordination of Fe(III) ions with a curcumin‐oxime ligand that may be used in the treatment of iron overload. The synthesis of the curcumin‐oxime ligand and curcumin‐oxime‐Fe(III) complex was successfully made and characterized in its solid‐state and solution‐state using FT‐IR, UV‐Vis, elemental analysis, and 1 H‐NMR. However, in this study, we investigated the apoptotic effects of the curcumin‐oxime Fe (III) complex on SW480. SW480 cells were exposed to 99.2% medium for 48 hours. After 48 hours, the incubation period, cells were harvested by centrifugation and washed in phosphate‐buffered saline (PBS) and lysed in radio‐immunoprecipitation assay (RIPA) buffer for 20 minutes and supernatants were taken and pellets were discarded. ELISA test was used to examine the expression, and activity of cleaved caspase‐3, Bax, and Bcl‐2 proteins in SW480 cells. ELISA test results indicated that the activities of apoptotic proteins Bax, caspase 3 and Bcl‐2 in human SW480 cell lines significantly increased in 48 hours treatment. Also, the activity of Bcl‐2 was observed to decrease significantly. Catalase activities of the complex were investigated. The findings showed that the complex has a catalase activity. The findings suggest that this type of complex may constitute a new and interesting basis for the future search of new and more potent drugs. The SOD activity of the result showed that the complexes possessed a considerable SOD activity with an IC50 value of 7.685 µM. Also, when compared with the control, a complex increased the SOD levels ( P < .05). Electrochemistry studies in the literature have shown that the Fe 3+ /Fe 2+ couple redox process occurs in low potential. This value is within the range of compounds that are expected to show superoxide dismutase activity. The I pc /I pa shows that one electron transport takes place in the complex. Our results suggest that curcumin‐oxime may represent a new approach in the treatment of iron overload.