Synthesis, structural, theoretical studies and biological activities of 3-(arylamino)-2-phenyl-1H-inden-1-one derivative

Five derivatives of 2-phenyl-1H-indene-1-one have been prepared and fully characterized. Spectroscopic techniques such as FT-IR, 1H NMR, mass spectrometry, and elemental analysis were used to investigate the chemical structures and physical properties of the prepared compounds. The optimized structures and the distribution of the frontier molecular orbital were obtained using density functional theory (DFT) at B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory. Additionally, the UV spectral properties of the indene compounds were corroborated by frontier orbital (HOMO and LUMO) calculations. Intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) peak has been observed in the UV spectra of the compounds and theoretically confirmed by the HOMO and LUMO analysis. The potential use of these compounds as antibacterial agents was investigated. The results show that indene-1-one derivatives have an antibacterial activity for both gram-negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and gram-positive (Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus) bacteria.