Silver sulfadoxinate: synthesis, structural and spectroscopic characterizations, and preliminary antibacterial assays in vitro

The sulfa drug sulfadoxine (SFX) reacted with Ag+ ions in aqueous solution, affording a new silver(I) complex (AgSFX), which was fully characterized by chemical, spectroscopic and structural methods. Elemental, ESI-TOF mass spectrometric and thermal analyses of AgSFX suggested a [Ag(C12H13N4O2S)] empirical formula. Infrared spectroscopic measurements indicated ligand coordination to Ag(I) through the nitrogen atoms of the (deprotonated) sulfonamide group and by the pyrimidine ring, as well as through oxygen atom(s) of the sulfonamide group. These hypotheses were corroborated by 13C and 15N SS-NMR spectroscopy and by an unconventional structural characterization based on X-ray powder diffraction data. The latter showed that AgSFX crystallizes as centrosymmetric dimers with a strong Ag⋯Ag interaction of 2.7435(6) Å, induced by the presence of exo-bidentate N,N′ bridging ligands and the formation of an eight-membered ring of [AgNCN]2 sequence, nearly planar. Participation of oxygen atoms of the sulfonamide residues generates in the crystal a 1D coordination polymer, likely responsible for its very limited solubility in all common solvents. Besides the analytical, spectroscopic and structural description, the antibacterial properties of AgSFX were assayed using disc diffusion methods against Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Gram-negative), and Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive) bacterial strains. The AgSFX complex showed to be active against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains, being comparable to the activities of silver sulfadiazine.