Baloxavir Marboxil Polymorphs: Investigating the Influence of Molecule Packing on the Dissolution Behavior

Baloxavir marboxil (BXM) is a new blockbuster FDA-approved anti-influenza virus agent. However, its poor solubility has limited its oral bioavailability. In this study, BXM was crystallized from several organic solvents, obtaining three polymorphs, and their dissolution behaviors were studied. Detailed crystallographic examination revealed that Form I is monoclinic, space group P21, with unit cell parameters a = 7.1159 (3) Å, b = 20.1967 (8) Å, c = 9.4878 (4) Å, β = 109.033 (1)°, V = 1289.02 (9) Å3, and Z = 2, and Form II is monoclinic, space group P21, with unit cell parameters a = 7.1002 (14) Å, b = 39.310 (7) Å, c = 9.7808 (18) Å, β = 110.966 (5)°, V = 2549.2 (8) Å3, and Z = 4. Form I has a rectangular three-dimensional energy frameworks net, while Form II has a two-dimensional net. On the other hand, Form II has a much larger percentage of its surface area of exposed hydrogen bond acceptors than Form I. These crystallographic features offered increased solubility and dissolution rate to Form II. The results of stability and solubility experiments suggest that Form II may be preferred in the solid form used for the industrial preparation of BXM medicinal products.

Improvement of the C-glycosylation Step for the Synthesis of Remdesivir

The bulk supply of the antiviral C-nucleoside analogue remdesivir is largely hampered by a low-yielding Cglycosylation step in which the base is coupled to the pentose unit. Here, we disclose a significantly improved methodology for this critical transformation. By utilizing diisopropylamine as a cost-effective additive, the addition reaction furnishes an optimal yield of 75% of the desired ribofuranoside adduct, representing the highest yield obtained thus far for this key step. The method proved suitable for hectogram scale synthesis without column chromatographic operations.

Research progress on repositioning drugs and specific therapeutic drugs for SARS-CoV-2.

SARS-CoV-2 has been widely spread around the world and COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic by the WHO. Limited clinically effective antiviral drugs are available now. The development of anti-SARS-CoV-2 drugs has become an urgent work worldwide. At present, potential therapeutic targets and drugs for SARS-CoV-2 are continuously reported, and many repositioning drugs are undergoing extensive clinical research, including remdesivir and chloroquine. On the other hand, structures of many important viral target proteins and host target proteins, including that of RdRp and Mpro were constantly reported, which greatly promoted structure-based drug design. This paper summarizes the current research progress and challenges in the development of anti-SARS-CoV-2 drugs, and proposes novel short-term and long-term drug research strategies.

Molecular simulation of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein binding to pangolin ACE2 or human ACE2 natural variants reveals altered susceptibility to infection.

We constructed complex models of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein binding to pangolin or human ACE2, the receptor for virus transmission, and estimated the binding free energy changes using molecular dynamics simulation. SARS-CoV-2 can bind to both pangolin and human ACE2, but has a significantly lower binding affinity for pangolin ACE2 due to the increased binding free energy (9.5 kcal mol-1). Human ACE2 is among the most polymorphous genes, for which we identified 317 missense single-nucleotide variations (SNVs) from the dbSNP database. Three SNVs, E329G (rs143936283), M82I (rs267606406) and K26R (rs4646116), had a significant reduction in binding free energy, which indicated higher binding affinity than wild-type ACE2 and greater susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection for people with them. Three other SNVs, D355N (rs961360700), E37K (rs146676783) and I21T (rs1244687367), had a significant increase in binding free energy, which indicated lower binding affinity and reduced susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection.