Structures, Photoresponse Properties, and Biological Activity of Dicyano-Substituted 4-Aryl-2-pyridone Derivatives

Abstract

Described in this work is the synthesis of a novel dicyano-substituted <i>N</i>-2-aminoethyl-4-(3-pyridinyl)-2-pyridone organic compound (<b>1</b>) that is characterized by several spectroscopic methods. Compound (<b>1</b>) was utilized for the preparation of its perchlorate (<b>2</b>), chloride (<b>3</b>), and bromide (<b>4</b>) salts. Single-crystal X-ray structures of these three salts were determined, and noncovalent weak interactions involving the aromatic rings, anions, and water molecules in (<b>2</b>-<b>4</b>) were investigated in detail. Solid-state UV-vis spectrum of the reported compounds (<b>1</b>-<b>4</b>) was utilized to calculate their optical band gaps, which clearly indicated that they belong to the semiconductor family. Under illumination condition, the magnitudes of electrical properties of (<b>1</b>) and its salts (<b>2</b>-<b>4</b>) improve remarkably although the improvement differs from salt to salt and the result was analyzed theoretically. Salt (<b>2</b>) was tested for its DNA binding ability.