Reactions of thioamides with the ions of copper and antimycobacterial activity of the formed complexes

Owing to their physiological activity, thioamides are used in pharmacy [1], but no simple relation between the rate of their hydrolysis and microbial activity has been found [2]. Dithiocarbamates and their copper complexes which are chemically related to these substances also exhibit antimycobacterial activity [3]. Unfor­ tunately, only small attention has been hitherto paid to the complexes of thioamides with metal ions from both microbial and synthetic point of view. Besides some data stated in reviews [1], the complexes of dimethylthioformamide and thiobenzamide with metal ions have been described [4, 5] and the structure of the complexes of metal ions with thioacetamide has been solved [6—9]. Because of the differences consequent upon the formulation of copper complexes [5, 9] as well as the known antimycobacterial activity of dithiocarbamates and their complexes with copper ions, it seemed useful to prepare the complexes of thioamides with copper ions and to compare their antimycobacterial activity with the known activity of ligands [2, 10].