A comprehensive review on inorganic metal complexes synthesized by direct use of low-cost drinking tea ligands and their wide applications

Heavy metal-contaminated industrial effluents are a major environmental problem. Incorporation of these ions into useful metals, oxides and nanoparticles is crucial for materials science and medicine. In this review, the use of Drinking Tea Solution (DTS) as a sustainable ligand for coordination chemistry is discussed, in which several functional groups are present, such as C = O, OH, NH 2 etc. In particular, the synthesis of metal complexes with various applications using Tea Polyphenols (TPs) is discussed. Chemical interactions between TPs and transition-metal salts are discussed, along with how they contribute to the improvement of the optical and structural properties of polymer composites. Additionally, the antimicrobial activity of these complexes against a wide range of pathogens, and describe their anticancer mechanisms such as cytotoxicity and selective therapeutic activity are exhibited. This review highlights the far-reaching applications of the DTS derived ligands and their cost effective transformative applications to the field of coordination chemistry. Synthesizing various metal complexes including Ni(II), Cu(II), Cd(II), Pb(II), Cr(II), Fe(II), Co(II), Ce(II), Al(III), Sn(II), Mn(II) and Zn(II) in less than minutes using extracted black or green tea dye was enough to establish new field for research based on low cost ligands existed in the tea dyes.