Computational analysis by molecular docking of thirty alkaloid compounds from medicinal plants as potent inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 main protease

Abstract

Year 2020 has been highly affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. The urgent need for a potent and effective drug for the treatment of this malignancy put pressure on researchers and scientists worldwide to develop a potential drug or a vaccine to resist SARS-CoV-2 virus. We report in this paper the assessment of the efficiency of thirty alkaloid compounds derived from African medicinal plants against the SARS-CoV-2 main protease through molecular docking and bioinformatics approaches. The results revealed four potential inhibitors (ligands 18, 21, 23 and 24) with 12.26 kcal/mol being the highest binding energy. Additionally, in silico drug-likeness and ADMET (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion and Toxicity) properties for the four ligands showed a good predicted therapeutic profile of druggability, and fully obey the Lipinski's rule of five as well.