ABSTRACT
Sanitization of inanimate objects or body surfaces using disinfectant is essential for eliminating disease-causing pathogens and maintaining personal hygiene. With the advent of health emergencies, the importance and high demand for hand sanitizers (HS) are observed in everyday life. It is also important to know the constituent added to formulate HS, as the presence of harsh chemicals can cause skin irritation. In this study, different spectroscopic techniques were used to assess several commercially available HS along with the in-house prepared HS as per the WHO protocol. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy identified the different HS chemical bonds and quantified the amount of alcohol and water in the HS. Varying amount of alcohols in HS, calibration profile was generated to identify its amount in commercial samples. Further, the commercial samples were also checked for contaminants whose presence in the HS might bring down its sanitization efficacy. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11696-022-02208-x.
ABSTRACT
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronaviruses (SARS-CoVs), causative of major outbreaks in the past two decades, has claimed many lives all over the world. The virus effectively spreads through saliva aerosols or nasal discharge from an infected person. Currently, no specific vaccines or treatments exist for coronavirus; however, several attempts are being made to develop possible treatments. Hence, it is important to study the viral structure and life cycle to understand its functionality, activity, and infectious nature. Further, such studies can aid in the development of vaccinations against this virus. Microscopy plays an important role in examining the structure and topology of the virus as well as pathogenesis in infected host cells. This review deals with different microscopy techniques including electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, fluorescence microscopy as well as computational methods to elucidate various prospects of this life-threatening virus.