Neoechinulin A for COVID-19

AbstractCOVID‐19, which was first identified in 2019 in Wuhan, China, is a respiratory illness caused by a virus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2). Although some patients infected with COVID‐19 can remain asymptomatic, most experience a range of symptoms that can be mild to severe. Common symptoms include fever, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, loss of taste or smell and muscle aches. In severe cases, complications can arise including pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, organ failure and even death, particularly in older adults or individuals with underlying health conditions. Treatments for COVID‐19 include remdesivir, which has been authorised for emergency use in some countries, and dexamethasone, a corticosteroid used to reduce inflammation in severe cases. Biological drugs including monoclonal antibodies, such as casirivimab and imdevimab, have also been authorised for emergency use in certain situations. While these treatments have improved the outcome for many patients, there is still an urgent need for new treatments. Medicinal plants have long served as a valuable source of new drug leads and may serve as a valuable resource in the development of COVID‐19 treatments due to their broad‐spectrum antiviral activity. To date, various medicinal plant extracts have been studied for their cellular and molecular interactions, with some demonstrating anti‐SARS‐CoV‐2 activity in vitro. This review explores the evaluation and potential therapeutic applications of these plants against SARS‐CoV‐2. This review summarises the latest evidence on the activity of different plant extracts and their isolated bioactive compounds against SARS‐CoV‐2, with a focus on the application of plant‐derived compounds in animal models and in human studies.

The main protease (Mpro) plays a pivotal role in the replication of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and is considered a highly conserved viral target. Disruption of the catalytic activity of Mpro produces a detrimental effect on the course of the infection, making this target one of the most attractive for the treatment of COVID-19. The current success of the SARS-CoV-2 Mpro inhibitor Nirmatrelvir, the first oral drug for the treatment of severe forms of COVID-19, has further focused the attention of researchers on this important viral target, making the search for new Mpro inhibitors a thriving and exciting field for the development of antiviral drugs active against SARS-CoV-2 and related coronaviruses.

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a significant threat to society in recent times, endangering human health, life, and economic well-being. The disease quickly spreads due to the highly infectious SARS-CoV-2 virus, which has undergone numerous mutations. Despite intense research efforts by the scientific community since its emergence in 2019, no effective therapeutics have been discovered yet. While some repurposed drugs have been used to control the global outbreak and save lives, none have proven universally effective, particularly for severely infected patients. Although the spread of the disease is generally under control, anti-SARS-CoV-2 agents are still needed to combat current and future infections. This study reviews some of the most promising repurposed drugs containing indolyl heterocycle, which is an essential scaffold of many alkaloids with diverse bio-properties in various biological fields. The study also discusses natural and synthetic indole-containing compounds with anti-SARS-CoV-2 properties and computer-aided drug design (in silico studies) for optimizing anti-SARS-CoV-2 hits/leads.

In this study, we present the highly efficient and rapid synthesis of substituted dihydropyrimidinone derivatives through an ultrasound-accelerated approach. We utilize copper ferrite (CuFe2O4) magnetic nanoparticles as heterogeneous catalysts, employing the well-known Biginelli reaction, under solvent-free conditions. The impact of the solvent, catalyst amount, and catalyst type on the reaction performance is thoroughly investigated. Our method offers several notable advantages, including facile catalyst separation, catalyst reusability for up to three cycles with the minimal loss of activity, a straightforward procedure, mild reaction conditions, and impressive yields, ranging from 79% to 95%, within short reaction times of 20 to 40 min. Furthermore, in the context of fighting COVID-19, we explore the potential of substituted dihydropyrimidinone derivatives as inhibitors of three crucial SARS-CoV-2 proteins. These proteins, glycoproteins, and proteases play pivotal roles in the entry, replication, and spread of the virus. Peptides and antiviral drugs targeting these proteins hold great promise in the development of effective treatments. Through theoretical molecular docking studies, we compare the binding properties of the synthesized dihydropyrimidinone derivatives with the widely used hydroxychloroquine molecule as a reference. Our findings reveal that some of the tested molecules exhibit superior binding characteristics compared to hydroxychloroquine, while others demonstrate comparable results. These results highlight the potential of our synthesized derivatives as effective inhibitors in the fight against SARS-CoV-2.