Synthesis, characterization,biological evaluation and molecular docking studies of salicylidene-aniline and their metal mixed ligand complexes with caffeine

•Novel Schiff base ligand and metal complexes were synthesized and characterized.•The octahedral structure of the complexes is proposed using the spectroscopic data analysis.•The antimicrobial activity of the ligands and their complexes was tested.•The complexes displayed enhanced antibacterial activity in comparison to the ligands.•Molecular docking studies between the complexes and the protein kinase (CK2) were performed.