We herein report the controllable synthesis of spherical cobalt ferrite nanoparticles with average crystallite size in the range of 3.6–12.9 nm using a facile, eco-friendly, hydrothermal method. The hydrothermal treatment was carried out by utilizing cobalt nitrate, ferric nitrate, and ammonium hydroxide in the presence and absence of Arabic gum as a surfactant agent. The purity and crystallinity of the products were tuned by varying reaction conditions such as reaction time (0.5–8 h), reaction temperature (120–180 °C), percentage of ethylene glycol (0–100% (v/v)), pH (8–9.6), and amount of Arabic gum (0–2 g). We characterized the prepared products using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis (EDS), selected area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns, and UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS). The optimal hydrothermal treatment was performed at 180 °C and pH 9.6 for 4 h in aqueous media. The results also revealed that the as-prepared spinel cobalt ferrite nanoparticles have an estimated optical band gap energy in the range of ca. 1.6–1.9 eV, indicating the semiconducting characteristics of the products.

Four novel ligand-metal complexes were synthesized through the reaction of Fe(III), pleaseCo(II), Zn(II), and Zr(IV) with Schiff base gemifloxacin reacted with ortho-phenylenediamine (GMFX-o-phdn) to investigate their biological activities. Elemental analysis, FT-IR, ¹H NMR, UV-visible, molar conductance, melting points, magnetic susceptibility, and thermal analyses have been carried out for insuring the chelation process. The antimicrobial activity was carried out against Monilinia fructicola, Aspergillus flavus, Penicillium italicum, Botrytis cinerea, Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus, Pseudomonas fluorescens, and P. aeruginosa. The radical scavenging activity (RSA%) was in vitro evaluated using ABTS method. FT-IR spectra indicated that GMFX-o-phdn chelated with metal ions as a tetradentate through oxygen of carboxylate group and nitrogen of azomethine group. The data of infrared, ¹H NMR, and molar conductivity indicate that GMFX–o-phdn reacted as neutral tetra dentate ligand (N₂O₂) with metal ions through the two oxygen atoms of the carboxylic group (oxygen containing negative charge) and two nitrogen atoms of azomethine group (each nitrogen containing a lone pair of electrons) (the absent of peak corresponding to ν(COOH) at 1715 cm⁻¹, the shift of azomethine group peak from 1633 cm⁻¹ to around 1570 cm⁻¹, the signal at 11 ppm of COOH and the presence of the chloride ions outside the complex sphere). Thermal analyses (TG-DTG/DTA) exhibited that the decaying of the metal complexes exists in three steps with the final residue metal oxide. The obtained data from DTA curves reflect that the degradation processes were exothermic or endothermic. Results showed that some of the studied complexes exhibited promising antifungal activity against most of the tested fungal pathogens, whereas they showed higher antibacterial activity against E. coli and B. cereus and low activity against P. fluorescens and P. aeruginosa. In addition, GMFX-o-phdn and its metal complexes showed strong antioxidant effect. In particular, the parent ligand and Fe(III) complex showed greater antioxidant capacity at low tested concentrations than that of other metal complexes where their IC₅₀ were 169.7 and 164.6 µg/mL, respectively.

Three novel mixed ligand metal complexes have been synthesized by the reaction of Zn(II), Sn(II), and Ce(III) with gemifloxacin (GMFX) in the presence of glycine (Gly) (1:1:1 molar ratio). The coordination possibility of the two ligands toward metal ions has been proposed in the light of elemental analysis, molar conductance, spectral infrared (IR), ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) and proton-nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR), and magnetic studies. Results suggest that GMFX and Gly interact with the metal ions as bidentate ligands. Electronic and magnetic data proposed the octahedral structure for all complexes under investigation. Antibacterial screening of the compounds was carried out in vitro against two Gram-positive bacteria, Clavibacter michiganensis and Bacillus megaterium, and two Gram-negative bacteria, Escherichia coli and Xanthomonas campestris. Antifungal activity was performed in vitro against Rhizoctonia solani, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Aspergillus niger, Botrytis cinerea, and Penicillium digitatum. The ligands and their complexes were also screened for their antioxidant activity. Results showed that some metal complexes showed more biological efficiency than the parent GMFX drug.

Condensation of the reaction between enrofloxacin and ethylenediamine in the existence of glacial acetic acid produced a new N,N-ethylene (bis 1-cyclopropyl-7-(4-ethylpiperazin-1-yl)-6-fluoro-1,4-dihydroquinoline-3-carboxylic acid Schiff base (H₂Erx-en). H₂Erx-en was used as a tetra-dentate ligand to produce novel complexes by interacting with metal ions iron(III), yttrium(III), zirconium(IV), and lanthanum(III). The synthetic H₂Erx-en and its chelates had been detected with elemental analysis, spectroscopic methods, mass spectrometry, thermal studies, conductometric and magnetic measurements experiments. The calculated molar conductance of the complexes in 1 × 10⁻³ M DMF solution shows that iron(III), yttrium(III) and lanthanum(III) are 1:1 electrolytes, however the zirconium(IV) complex is non-electrolyte. The infrared spectra of H₂Erx-en chelates indicated that the carboxylic group is deprotonated and H₂Erx-en is associated with metals as a tetra-dentate through nitrogen and oxygen atoms. The disappearance of the carboxylic proton in all complexes corroborated information concerning H₂Erx-en deprotonation and complexation with metal ions, according to ¹H NMR data. Thermal analysis revealed the abundance of H₂O particles in the chelates’ entrance and outlet spheres, indicating the disintegration pattern of H₂Erx-en and their chelates. The Coats–Redfern and Horowitz–Metzeger approaches were utilized to calculate the thermodynamic items (E_a, ΔS *, ΔH *, and ΔG *) at n = 1 and n ≠ 1. The resulting data reveal better organized chelate building activation. Density functional theory (DFT) was created to properly grasp the optimal architecture of the molecules. The chelates are softer than H₂Erx-en, with estimates varying between 95.23 eV to 400.00 eV, compared to 31.47 eV for H₂Erx-en. The disc diffusion technique was utilized to assess H₂Erx-en and their chelates in an antimicrobial assay against various food and phytopathogens. The zirconium(IV) chelate has the most potent antibacterial action and is particularly efficient against Salmonella typhi.