Triterpenic Acid Amides as Potential Inhibitors of the SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease

• Published in: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 28; no. 1; p. 303
• Main Authors: Baev, Dmitry S., Blokhin, Mikhail E., Chirkova, Varvara Yu, Belenkaya, Svetlana V., Luzina, Olga A., Yarovaya, Olga I., Salakhutdinov, Nariman F., Shcherbakov, Dmitry N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 30.12.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Amides - metabolism; Amides - pharmacology; Amino acids; antiviral; Antiviral agents; Antiviral Agents - chemistry; Antiviral drugs; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Dosage and administration; Enzymes; FRET; Humans; main protease; Molecular Docking Simulation; molecular modeling; Phenols; Protease Inhibitors - chemistry; SARS-CoV-2; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; triterpene amide; Viruses; Russia; SARS-CoV-2; FRET; main protease; molecular modeling; antiviral; triterpene amide
• ISSN: 1420-3049; 1420-3049
• DOI: 10.3390/molecules28010303

Although the incidence and mortality of SARS-CoV-2 infection has been declining during the pandemic, the problem related to designing novel antiviral drugs that could effectively resist viruses in the future remains relevant. As part of our continued search for chemical compounds that are capable of exerting an antiviral effect against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, we studied the ability of triterpenic acid amides to inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 main protease. Molecular modeling suggested that the compounds are able to bind to the active site of the main protease via non-covalent interactions. The FRET-based enzyme assay was used to reveal that compounds 1e and 1b can inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 main protease at micromolar concentrations.