Antibiotic Schiff base metal complexes as privileged scaffolds to overcome microbial resistance

The incidence of multi-resistant infections has sharply increased. One of the best strategies for developing new drugs is re-engineering existing drugs to enhance their bioavailability and antimicrobial activities. The latest systems focus on designing bioinorganic platforms to develop antimicrobial agents to target drug-resistant microbial strains. Various literature reports highlight metal-based antimicrobial agents unveiling an innovative strategy to tackle microbial agents. One of the significant mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in bacteria is the impermeability of its cell membrane towards antibiotics. Antibiotic-based Schiff base complexes are prime candidates for drug design with minor side effects in this scenario. The enhanced activity of antibiotic Schiff base complexes over their parent compound plays a key role in the emergence of innovative antimicrobials. In this review, we highlight the biological potential aspects of some selected antibiotic-based Schiff base complexes of penicillin, cephalosporins, quinolones, and sulfonamides. Some of the bacteria, especially P. aeruginosa, remain resistant to most of the commercially available antibiotics. Here, the review highlights that Schiff base complexes mediated by antibiotics demonstrate bactericidal activity against these resistant strains. Additionally, their mode of action on the bacterial cell is highlighted. The increased activity of copper, zinc, and silver complexes of different Schiff bases is attributed to their inherent redox chemistry.