In silico study of some natural flavonoids as potential agents against COVID-19: preliminary results

Flavonoids, widely distributed in fruits, vegetables, and medicinal herbs, are compounds with multiple biological benefits to human health from anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer, antibacterial to antiviral activity. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a serious concern in the world today, is a respiratory tract disease involving moderate to severe symptoms of pneumonia, with a major incidence in older people and patients having chronic diseases. This emergency health situation led us to evaluate the possible use of natural products to prevent respiratory diseases. The present study aims to report the potential of four natural flavonoids, known to have anti-inflammatory and antiviral activity, as anti-SARS-CoV-2 through their binding on the 6YNQ protein receptor. Molecular docking study with the FRED program was chosen as an appropriate tool to analyze the interaction of natural flavonoids, quercetin, luteolin, galangin, and naringenin, with the SARS-CoV-2 main protease and to rank the conformations through a scoring function to predict their binding affinity. Overall, our preliminary results indicate the potential of the titled natural flavonoids to fight the new coronavirus, COVID-19.