Background: Being derived from primary amine and aromatic aldehyde, Schiff base and their complexes have an imperative role in the improvement of inorganic chemistry, which are broadly studied as coordination compounds and are gradually becoming more important in biochemical and analytical applications.

Methods: They have also been used for antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, antitubercular activities. Novel synthesised Schiff’s base 2-methoxy-4-((3-methylpyridin-2-ylimino)methyl)phenol (SB) and its metal complexes (Zn[II], Cu[II], Co[II] and Ni[II]) were characterised by UV, IR and NMR spectroscopy. Formation of the Schiff base and the metal (Zn[II], Cu[II], Co[II] and Ni[II]) chelates was supported by spectral and analytical data. The ligand and metal complexes have been screened for their antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and antifungal activity against the fungi Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger. Further, the synthesised compounds were also screened for antiproliferative activity against the human colorectal carcinoma (HCT116) cell line using the Sulforhodamine B assay.

Result: Metal complexes formed were found to enhance the potency of the Schiff base due to coordination with a copper complex, showing better activity than others.

Conclusion: Copper complex was observed to be more potent than other complexes against all the pathogenic microbes and cancer cell line (HCT116).

背景：席夫碱及其配合物由伯胺和芳香醛衍生而来，对改善无机化学具有重要作用，作为配位化合物已被广泛研究，并在生化和分析应用中逐渐变得越来越重要。

方法：它们也已用于抗菌，抗真菌，抗癌，抗结核活性。新型合成席夫碱2-甲氧基-4-（（3-甲基吡啶-2-嘧啶）甲基）苯酚（SB）及其金属配合物（Zn [II]，Cu [II]，Co [II]和Ni [II]通过UV，IR和NMR光谱表征。光谱和分析数据支持了席夫碱和金属（Zn [II]，Cu [II]，Co [II]和Ni [II]）螯合物的形成。筛选了配体和金属配合物对金黄色葡萄球菌，伤寒沙门氏菌，大肠杆菌，肺炎克雷伯菌的抗菌活性以及对白色念珠菌和黑曲霉的抗真菌活性。进一步，

结果：发现形成的金属配合物由于与铜配合物的配位而增强了席夫碱的效力，显示出比其他配合物更好的活性。

结论：观察到铜配合物对所有病原微生物和癌细胞系（HCT116）的作用均强于其他配合物。