Synthesis of Acetyl Resorcinol and Investigation of the Anti Microbial Potentials of Some of its Metal Complexes

The chemical synthesis of acetyl resorcinol with glacial acetic acid and resorcinol in presence of zinc chloride as catalyst to obtain acetyl resorcinol was the adopted procedure. The resulting acetyl resorcinol are complexed with the following metals Cr3+, Mn2+, Fe2+ and Co2+ ions. The acetyl resorcinol and its complexes were characterized using IR Spectrometry, Gas Chromatography/ Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) as well as melting point. The IR Spectrum revealed the functional groups present. The IR absorption shows characteristic behaviour in the sense that, OH group found in 4 – Acetyl resorcinol in the region v(OH):3,303.35cm-1 was absent in the complexes due to deprotonation and co- ordination between metal ion and oxygen of phenol. The type of ligands involved were bidentate and polydentate ligands. The GC/MS studies showed the molecular weight (mass) of the complexes formed. The Mass Spectroscopy of all the compounds show molecular ion peaks indicating molecular weight of the various compounds hence showing that chelation has taken place. Interestingly, all the synthesized compounds were obtained in good yield (74.20% – 90.10%) The antibacterial of the acetyl resorcinol and its metal complexes were screened against Salmonella enteric, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. It was observed that the growth of micro-organisms were inhibited in acetyl resorcinol, Co complex, Mn Complex. The Fe Complex inhibited the growth of Staphylococcus aureus but could not inhibit others while Cr Complex inhibited the growth of Escherichia coli but could not stop others. This study shows that chemical synthesis and complexation have taken place and the knowledge gained will help to advance the course of bioinorganic and inorganic chemistry.