Synthesis and Determination of Partition Coefficients of Zinc Complexes with Clinical Potential application

Zinc sulphate is currently used for treatment of zinc deficiency. Its uptake by the body is poor, necessitating the administration of high doses. This leads to a range of unpleasant side effects. In order to increase the bioavailability of zinc, several zinc complexes have been designed and synthesized using bidentate ligands of hydroxypyranones and hydroxypyridinones. Elemental analysis in each zinc complex was consistent with the formulations of ZnL₂ species L: bidentate ligand) with 1.5 or 7 water molecules per zinc and the water molecules were removed by heating in a vacuum oven to yield anhydrous zinc complexes. The partition coefficients (K_part)of the complexes were also determined in 1-octanol/buffer (at pH 7.40) system by using shake-flask method. It was found that, the complexes with hydroxypyranone ligands possess higher K_part values than those with hydroxypyidinone ligands. Therefore, the comparison of the complexes highlights the hydroxypyranone zinc complexes as the most promising candidates for using in zinc deficiency. Since it was anticipated that this type of complexes probably possesses suitable lipophilicity to facilitate their penetration into the gastrointestinal tract.