Aplicação de mecânica molecular em química inorgânica

Flavonoid as possible therapeutic targets against COVID-19: a scoping review of in silico studies

OBJECTIVES

This scoping review aims to present flavonoid compounds' promising effects and possible mechanisms of action on potential therapeutic targets in the SARS-CoV-2 infection process.

METHODS

A search of electronic databases such as PubMed and Scopus was carried out to evaluate the performance of substances from the flavonoid class at different stages of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

RESULTS

The search strategy yielded 382 articles after the exclusion of duplicates. During the screening process, 265 records were deemed as irrelevant. At the end of the full-text appraisal, 37 studies were considered eligible for data extraction and qualitative synthesis. All the studies used virtual molecular docking models to verify the affinity of compounds from the flavonoid class with crucial proteins in the replication cycle of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (Spike protein, PLpro, 3CLpro/ MPro, RdRP, and inhibition of the host's ACE II receptor). The flavonoids with more targets and lowest binding energies were: orientin, quercetin, epigallocatechin, narcissoside, silymarin, neohesperidin, delphinidin-3,5-diglucoside, and delphinidin-3-sambubioside-5-glucoside.

CONCLUSION

These studies allow us to provide a basis for in vitro and in vivo assays to assist in developing drugs for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19.

Molecular modeling utilizing purple acid phosphatase biomimetic models

Purple acid phosphatases (PAPs) constitute a new class of metalloenzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of certain phosphate esters, including nucleoside di- and triphosphates and aryl phosphates, under acidic conditions. To provide some insight into these metalloenzymes we have performed quantum chemical and molecular mechanics calculations based on the mixed-valence [FeIIFeIII(BPBPMP)(OAc)2]+model complex (1) (H2BPBPMP = 2-bis[{(2-pyridylmethyl)-aminomethyl}-6-{(2-hydroxybenzyl)-(2-pyridylmethyl)}-aminomethyl]-4-methylphenol). The geometric and the vibrational parameters calculated by molecular mechanics show that the force fields established in this work reproduce the binuclear iron core with µ-phenoxo or µ-alkoxo and di-µ-acetate bridges presented in the PAPs model complexes. The atomic orbital analysis of the SOMO contributions indicated that the FeIIIatom and the terminal phenolate are involved in the phenolate to FeIIIcharge transfer electronic transition in 1 as argued from electronic spectroscopic data in the PAPs. Key words: mixed-valence FeIIFeIIIcomplex, purple acid phosphatases, molecular modeling.