Antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities and bovine serum albumin binding properties of benzimidazolium derivative NHC salts and their Ag(I)-NHC complexes

Abstract

Benzimidazole type N-heterocyclic carbene molecules and their metal complexes have well-known biological activity. Elemental silver and silver complexes also have antibacterial and antifungal activity. In this study, silver complexes with 1-allyl 5,6-dimethylbenzimidazolium derivative ligands were analyzed for their antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities. Additionally, bovine serum albumin (BSA) binding properties of the molecules were analyzed by spectrophotometric methods, and the details of interactions of the molecules with BSA were investigated by molecular docking methods. While N-heterocyclic carbene salts showed moderate antifungal and antibiofilm activity, silver complexes of these salts have strong antimicrobial activity with <1.9–15.6 μg/ml minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values. On the other hand, carbene salts have better affinity against BSA than the complexes. Additionally, the interaction of the optimized complexes with SarA and BSA were analyzed by molecular docking methods. According to in vitro and in silico evaluation, the studied Ag complexes may be utilized for advanced studies.