Abstract: Benzoxazolinone derivatives have an important role in the self defense of plants, such as insecticidal, bactericidal, weed killing, plant growth regulation, hetero bioactivity and anti-inflammatory activity. In order to find new active compounds, Acetyl-benzoxazolinone and its copper, nickel and zinc complexes were synthesized. The IR and UV characterization, herbicidal, anti-bacterial activities and molecular docking of the synthetic complexes were carried out. The experimental results show that the copper complex of acetyl benzoxazolinone has the ability to inhibit Escherichia coli and Bacillus Subtilis, and is expected to be developed to be a broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent. The three complexes have obvious inhibition ability to wheat, rape and barnyard grass, especially the inhibition rate to rape root, close to 100%, which suggest that they have the potential advantage of developing herbicide. The results of molecular docking show that the docking energy of the three complexes with protoporphyrinogen oxidase is low and the inhibition constant is small. The three complexes show herbicidal activity probably by inhibiting the activity of protoporphyrinogen oxidase.

Key words: benzoxazolinone, complexes, biological activity, molecular docking