A Schiff base ligand 1 was prepared from condensation of salicyaldehyde with 2-amino-4-phenyl-5-methyl thiazole. The ligand forms complexes with CoII, NiII, CuII, and ZnII in good yield. The synthesized compounds were characterized by elemental analysis, magnetic susceptibility, molar conductance, infrared spectra, 1H and 13C NMR, mass, electronic absorption and ESR spectroscopy. The anticancer activity of the synthesized compounds was studied against different human tumor cell lines: breast cancer MCF-7, liver cancer HepG2, lung carcinoma A549 and colorectal cancer HCT116 in comparison with the activity of doxorubicin as a reference drug. The study showed that ZnII complex showed potent inhibition against human TRK in the four cell lines (HepG2, MCF7, A549, HCT116) by the ratio 80, 70, 61 and 64% respectively as compared to the inhibition in the untreated cells. Moreover, the molecular docking into TRK (PDB: 1t46) was done for the optimization of the aforementioned compounds as potential TRK inhibitors

A new series of Schiff bases containing benzіmidazole moiety 11–17 were synthesized by the reaction of 4-(1H-benzо[d]іmіdazоl-2-yl)anіline (1) with different aromatic aldehydes (4–10) via conventional heating and microwave irradiation methods. The structures of the novel Schiff bases were characterized by using different spectral data. Also, metal complexes 18–21 of compound 13 were synthesized, and their structure was confirmed by spectral measurements (IR, NMR, UV), molar conductivity, magnetic susceptibility and thermo-gravimetric analysis. The novel synthesized ligand 13 and its complexes 18–21 were tested for their in vitro antitumor activities towards breast, liver and lung cancer cell lines. Also, the acute toxicity of the prepared compounds 13 and 18–21 was determined in vivo. The results showed that the newly synthesized compounds 13 and 18–21 exhibited a significant activity against cancer, especially for complex 21, compared to standard drug doxorubicin. The molecular docking of complexes 20 and 21 has been also studied as Aurora kinase inhibitors.