Discovery of juglone and its derivatives as potent SARS-CoV-2 main proteinase inhibitors.

ABSTRACT: SARS-CoV-2 as a positive-sense single-stranded RNA coronavirus caused the global outbreak of COVID-19. The main protease (M^pro) of the virus as the major enzyme processing viral polyproteins contributed to the replication and transcription of SARS-CoV-2 in host cells, and has been characterized as an attractive target in drug discovery. Herein, a set of 1,4-naphthoquinones with juglone skeleton were prepared and evaluated for the inhibitory efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 M^pro. More than half of the tested naphthoquinones could effectively inhibit the target enzyme with an inhibition rate of more than 90% at the concentration of 10 μM. In the structure-activity relationships (SARs) analysis, the characteristics of substituents and their position on juglone core scaffold w

SUBMITTER: Cui J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8372460 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature