We synthesized new insulinomimetic zinc(II) complexes of amine derivatives with Zn(Nn) coordination mode. The insulinomimetic activity was estimated by the inhibitory effect on free fatty acid release from the isolated rat adipocytes treated with epinephrine. Zn (2-ampy)2, Zn(1,5,9-TN) etc. with the stability constants (log β) lower than 11 have been found to have higher insulinomimetic activities than that of ZnSO4. In in vivo studies, the high blood glucose level of KK-Ay mice with hereditary type 2 diabetes mellitus was lowered by daily intraperitoneal injections of Zn(2-ampy)2 for 14 days. We proposed here that new zinc(II) complexes with Zn(N4) coordination mode have high insulinomimetic activities and blood glucose normalizing effects.
