Abstract
The rapid emergence of drug resistant bacterial strains poses serious challenges to human society. The increased mortality rates caused by drug resistant bacterial infections and the depleted rate of new antibacterial drugs indicates a pressing need to focus on feasible therapeutic alternatives to counter this problem. Metal complexes offer a different steric and electronic profile which could be useful in the generation of new and effective antibacterial agents. Additionally, the unique metal specific mode of action of metal based antimicrobial agents makes them less prone to bacterial resistance and encourages the development of these complexes as clinically relevant antibacterial agents. The work presented in this thesis was undertaken with the aim of developing functionalized metal complexes using the “click” chemistry approach, with a view towards investigating the application of these complexes as potential antimicrobial agents.