Discovery of Chlorofluoroacetamide-Based Covalent Inhibitors for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 3CL Protease.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has necessitated the development of antiviral agents against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). 3C-like protease (3CLpro) is a promising target for COVID-19 treatment. Here, we report a new class of covalent inhibitors of 3CLpro that possess chlorofluoroacetamide (CFA) as a cysteine-reactive warhead. Based on an aza-peptide scaffold, we synthesized a series of CFA derivatives in enantiopure form and evaluated their biochemical efficiency. The data revealed that 8a (YH-6) with the R configuration at the CFA unit strongly blocks SARS-CoV-2 replication in infected cells, and its potency is comparable to that of nirmatrelvir. X-ray structural analysis showed that YH-6 formed a covalent bond with Cys145 at the catalytic center of 3CLpro. The strong antiviral activity and favorable pharmacokinetic properties of YH-6 suggest its potential as a lead compound for the treatment of COVID-19.

Development of Fluorescent Ganglioside GD3 and GQ1b Analogs for Elucidation of Raft-Associated Interactions.

b-Series gangliosides are abundant in central nervous tissues and are involved in important nerve processes. However, their functions are complicated because of their properties of forming dynamic domains in cell plasma membranes (PMs), called lipid rafts. In this study, we aim to develop fluorescently labeled b-series gangliosides that are useful for single-molecule imaging. The chemical synthesis of fluorescent GD3 and GQ1b was achieved using sialylation and ganglioside synthetic methods previously developed by our group. Furthermore, biophysical evaluations demonstrated that synthesized fluorescent GD3 and GQ1b behaved as raft molecules on cell PMs, suggesting their applicability to the study of raft-associated interactions.