The development of low-cost catalytic systems that mimic the activity of tyrosinase enzymes (Catechol oxidase) is of great promise for future biochemistry technologic demands. Herein, we report the synthesis of new biomolecules systems based on hydrazone derivatives containing a pyrazole moiety (L1–L6) with superior catecholase activity. Crystal structures of L1 and L2 biomolecules were determined by X-ray single crystal diffraction (XRD). Optimized geometrical parameters were calculated by density functional theory (DFT) at B3LYP/6–31G (d, p) level and were found to be in good agreement with single crystal XRD data. Copper (II) complexes of the compounds (L1–L6), generated in-situ, were investigated for their catalytic activities towards the oxidation reaction of catechol to ortho-quinone with the atmospheric dioxygen, in an attempt to model the activity of the copper containing enzyme tyrosinase. The studies showed that the activities depend on four parameters: the nature of the ligand, the nature of counter anion, the nature of solvent and the concentration of ligand. The Cu(II)-ligands, given here, present the highest catalytic activity (72.920 μmol·L⁻¹·min⁻¹) among the catalysts recently reported in the existing literature.

Herein, new substituted ligands based on pyrazole (L₁–L₄) were synthesized via a one-step by condensing (1H-pyrazole-1-yl) methanol with different primary amine compounds. The present work utilized the catalytic properties of the in situ complexes formed by these ligands with various copper (II) salts viz. Cu(CH₃COO)₂, CuSO₄, CuCl₂, and Cu(NO₃)₂ for the oxidation of catechol to o-quinone. The studies showed that the catalytic activities depend on the nature and concentration of the ligand, the nature of the counterion, and the solvent. It was observed that the complex formed by L₂ and Cu(CH₃COO)₂ exhibited good catalytic activity in methanol with V_max of 41.67 µmol L⁻¹ min⁻¹ and K_m of 0.02 mol L⁻¹.

It is at the chemistry-biology interface that this work that we have carried out takes place. Indeed, the expected goal is to develop simple molecules, capable of activating the catalytic action of certain metalloenzymes such as tyrosinase. The official name of an enzyme includes the type of reaction catalyzed, the name of the substrates involved. In this work, we carried out the study of the catalytic activity of the complexes of organotin carboxylates synthesized vis-à-vis the oxidation of 3,5-di-tert-butylcatecchol. The results obtained show that the various complexes exhibit good catalytic activity for the oxidation of 3,5-di-tert-butylcatecchol under mild conditions. The complexes that showed good catalytic activity are the compounds C1 and C2.