Copper(II) complexes of
N-benzothiazolesulfonamides (HL
1 =
N-2-(4-methylphenylsulfamoyl)-6-nitro-benzothiazole,HL
2 =
N-2-(phenylsulfamoyl)-6-chloro-benzothiazole, and HL
3=
N-2-(4-methylphenylsulfamoyl)-6-chloro-benzothiazole)with ammonia have been synthesized and characterized. The crystal structures of the [Cu(L
1)
2(NH
3)
2]·2MeOH (
1),[Cu(L
2)
2(NH
3)
2] (
2), and [Cu(L
3)
2(NH
3)
2] (
3) compounds have been determined. Compounds
1 and
2 present adistorted square planar geometry. In both compounds the metal ion is coordinated by two benzothiazole N atomsfrom two sulfonamidate anions and two NH
3 molecules. Complex
3 is distorted square-pyramidal. The Cu(II) ionis linked to the benzothiazole N and sulfonamidate O atoms of one of the ligands, the benzothiazole N of anothersulfonamidate anion, and two ammonia N atoms. We have tested the superoxide dismutase (SOD)-like activity ofthe compounds and compared it with that of two dinuclear compounds [Cu
2(L
4)
2(OCH
3)
2(NH
3)
2] (
4) and [Cu
2(L
4)
2(OCH
3)
2(dmso)
2] (
5) (HL
4 =
N-2-(phenylsulfamoyl)-4-methyl-benzothiazole). In vitro indirect assays show that thedimeric complexes are better SOD mimics than the monomeric ones. We have also assayed the protective actionprovided by the compounds against reactive oxygen species over
![](/images/gifchars/Delta.gif)
sod1 mutant of
Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Incontrast to the in vitro results, the mononuclear compounds were more protective to SOD-deficient
S. cerevisiaestrains than the dinuclear complexes.