Quinoline and Quinazoline Alkaloids against COVID-19: An In Silico Multitarget Approach

Abstract

The recent outbreak of the highly contagious coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has created a global health crisis with socioeconomic impacts Although, recently, vaccines have been approved for the prevention of COVID-19, there is still an urgent need for the discovery of more efficacious and safer drugs especially from natural sources In this study, a number of quinoline and quinazoline alkaloids with antiviral and/or antimalarial activity were virtually screened against three potential targets for the development of drugs against COVID-19 Among seventy-one tested compounds, twenty-three were selected for molecular docking based on their pharmacokinetic and toxicity profiles The results identified a number of potential inhibitors Three of them, namely, norquinadoline A, deoxytryptoquivaline, and deoxynortryptoquivaline, showed strong binding to the three targets, SARS-CoV-2 main protease, spike glycoprotein, and human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 These alkaloids therefore have promise for being further investigated as possible multitarget drugs against COVID-19 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Chemistry is the property of Hindawi Limited and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder s express written permission However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use This abstract may be abridged No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract (Copyright applies to all Abstracts )