Synthesis, antioxidant and antibacterial activities of 3-nitrophenyl ferrocene

The current work aims in its first part to synthesize 3-nitrophenylferrocene after diazotizing nitroaniline in the meta position by the sodium nitrite and the formation of the corresponding diazonium salt: 3-nitrobenzendiazonium sulfate, then the salt in solution was added to the ferrocene for the purpose of introducing the nitrophenyl moiety thereon (arylation) and the formation of 3-nitrophenylferrocene. The second part is devoted to the study of the antioxidant activity of 3-NPF by applying the trapping test of superoxide radical using cyclic voltammetry, the free radical DPPH trapping test by spectrophotometry. The results showed that 3-nitrophenylferrocene has a scavenging effect of DPPH radical with IC50 = 1.44mg/ml, superoxide radical with IC50=5.38mg/ml. The third part is devoted to the study of antibacterial activity of the synthesized compound tested on four strains of bacteria: Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterococcus faecalis and Klebsiella pneumoniae. The obtained results clearly showed that 3-nitrophenylferrocene has low activities on the four bacterial strains with diameters of inhibition zones do not exceeding 17 mm at concentrations of 25mg/ml.