Virtual Screening of Anti Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Drugs Targeting Main Protease

Abstract

Molecular docking technology was employed to predict and exploit potential main protein inhibitors of novel coronavirus ribonucleic acid dependent ribonucleic acid polymerase by virtual screening of twenty hundred thousand natural molecules in ZINC database. By targeting main protease of novel coronavirus by Schrodinger Maestro software and molecular dynamic simulation, the affinity and stability of the complex formed between the compound and the main protease of novel coronavirus were carefully analyzed. Base on high-throughput virtual screening, twelve compounds with higher molecular docking score were selected from twenty hundred thousand compounds database, compound ZINC000096222420 has the highest docking score of -8.693. The results from molecular dynamic simulation and binding free energy calculation reveal that the structure of the complex is highly stable, which has high potential to accelerate the development of anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 drugs.