Brief History, Pathophysiology, Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 Virus, and Recent Advances on Transition Metal Complexes and Nanocomposites as the Potent Antiviral Agents from COVID-19 Perspectives

The outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 has resulted in an unprecedented and greatest global health crisis in the present century affecting more than 220 countries with 3.7 million deaths and 173.5 million individual infections till now. This pandemic has had an enormous impact on global healthcare, economy, and society, which has prompted extensive research on exploring the biology of SARS-CoV-2 and the discovery of new drugs for COVID-19. The lack of effective antiviral drugs for COVID-19 has initiated the effort to repurpose selected FDA-approved antiviral drugs for the treatment of COVID-19 along with plasma therapy. Vaccination has proven to be the effective prevention strategy against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, although mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 virus have become the major concern due to the decreasing effectiveness of the vaccines Therefore, an effective cure for COVID-19 is still an elusive goal. Transition metal complexes by a broad spectrum of formal charge and oxidation states, wide range of coordination number and geometry, tunable kinetic, thermodynamic, and redox properties, diverse reaction pathways have emerged as the alternative and viable tools in the medicinal domain from therapeutics to diagnostics. Several transition metal complexes proved their efficacy against various types of viruses and recent advances on the potent transition metal complexes or nanoconjugates are reviewed in this chapter. The present chapter also aims to discuss the perspectives on the potential utility of transition metal complexes or the nanoconjugates against SARS-CoV-2. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

SAR-based approach to explore in silico ferrocene analogues as the potential inhibitors of major viral proteins of SARS-CoV-2 virus and human Ca2+-channel blocker

Amid the pandemic COVID-19, there is a desperate and urgent need for a therapeutic solution for COVID-19. Our present studies have adapted the SAR-based approach to explore in silico several selected ferrocene-based complexes as the potential inhibitors of the major viral proteins (Spike, RdRp, M-pro, N protein) of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The SAR-based molecular docking studies have revealed that compound 1 is the strongest inhibitor of the major viral proteins with a binding energy of >9.0 kcal/mol. Compound 1 is also able to inhibit the human Ca2+ channel and thereby potentially able to prevent the strong inflammatory signalling cascades causing severe respiratory distress to the COVID-19 patients. Overall, our computational studies explored ferrocene-based compounds as the emerging multi-targeting therapeutic solution for COVID-19 by inhibiting viral replication as well as modulating the inflammatory signalling cascades.

Transition metal complexes as potential tools against SARS-CoV-2: An: In silico approach

The current global pandemic crisis caused by the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has caused more than 1.3 million deaths worldwide and forced social distancing among the people affecting the socio-economic condition. The virus is spread by human contact and respiratory droplets targeting the ACE2 receptors of alveolar cells. The virus replication process involves the translation of the viral genome, which involves the formation of an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase complex and the inhibition of the replication process of the virus can be triggered by the inhibition of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase complex. The WHO has approved the repurposing of current antiviral drugs as the treatment protocol for COVID-19. Nevertheless, the use of present antiviral drugs and strict social distancing are unable to stop the outbreak of COVID-19. Transition metal complexes, by virtue of a broad spectrum of oxidation numbers, valencies, geometries, tunable redox, and kinetic and thermodynamic properties provide us with a platform in considering such compounds as the viable alternative of the present re-purposed antiviral drugs against SARS-CoV-2. Herein, we have selected eleven metal-based antiviral agents and performed molecular docking in the RdRp complex of SARS-CoV-2. The docking results revealed that metal complexes potentially inhibit the RdRp of SARS-Cov-2 the binding energy (-10.24 kcal mol-1) of which is comparably higher with respect to the reported binding energies of the conventional re-purposed drugs like Chloroquine, Remdesivir, Ribavirin, etc. (-4 to -7 kcal mol-1). The most competent candidate shows the highest binding energy of -10.24 kcal mol-1 corresponding to ferroquine derivative complex 6. The results are of paramount importance and enable us to consider these transition metal complexes as the potential treatment modality against SARS-CoV-2 and warrant further in vitro or in vivo screening of these complexes in the clinical arena of COVID-19 research. © The Royal Society of Chemistry and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.