Synthetic organic compounds, containing relatively higher number of nitrogen attracting interest in the current medical research due to their utility in chemotherapy. The development of new medicines with more number of nitrogen atoms in their structural framework is an important challenging task for medicinal chemists. The lipophilicity of Mannich bases and their metal complexes enables them to be more potent novel medicines and acquire huge interest among medicinal chemists. We report here the synthesis of novel lead structure of new Mannich base and its complexeswith the variety of transition metals such as Co(II), Mn(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) and evaluated them for DPPH free radical scavenging and antiinflammatory activity. As the Mannich base from the combinations 4nitrobenzaldehyde, morpholine and nicotinamide was not yet reported, the new Mannich base, N-[Morpholino(4-nitrophenyl)methyl]nicotinamide (NMN), was synthesized from this combination. The ligand and its complexes were characterized using various analytical (Chemical assays, Elemental analysis and TLC) and spectral studies (FT-IR, UV-Visible, 1 H NMR, 13 C NMR, Mass and TGA).