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Objective: Highly contagious character of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the lack of specific drugs have led many scientists worldwide to re-evaluate the molecules currently in use for other diseases/viruses. Thus, high-throughput screening with docking studies has the rationale to identify potential therapeutics from existing drug molecules. Conflicting results of the studies, including SARS-CoV-2 and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfected population, suggested a possible preventive effect of antiretroviral regimens they have been receiving., Materials and Methods: Interactions between the widely used antiretroviral molecules, in particular; abacavir, cobicistat, dolutegravir, elvitegravir, emtricitabine, lamivudine, raltegravir, and tenofovir, and the main proteins on SARS-CoV-2 that may be targeted for SARS-CoV-2 infection were analyzed using molecular docking studies., Results: Analysis of the compounds strikingly revealed that not the antiretroviral drugs but cobicistat and ritonavir, the inhibitors of cytochrome P450, had strong interactions with the main protease active site and RNA polymerase on SARS-CoV-2, as well as the active site of angiotensin-converting-enzyme 2, the protein that enables the entry of the virus into human cells., Conclusion: Our results suggest cobicistat and ritonavir may be used to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology.)

Objectives: The in vitro antioxidant properties of some 2-(2-phenyl)-1 H -benzo(d)imidazol-1-yl)-N'-(arylmethylene) acetohydrazide derivatives (1-12) were investigated in this study., Materials and Methods: The in vitro antioxidant activity of compounds 1-12 was explored by determination of rat liver microsomal nicotinamideadenine dinucleotide phosphate dependent inhibition on lipid peroxidation (LPO) levels and microsomal ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase (EROD) activity., Results: All synthesised compounds had LPO inhibitory activity (15-57%) except compound 6, which contains a thiophene ring. Almost all the compounds displayed slightly inhibitory activity (2-20%) on EROD., Conclusion: The most active compound, 3 bearing a p-bromophenyl substituent at the second position of the benzimidazole ring, caused 57% inhibition of LPO level, while butylated hydroxytoluene showed 65% inhibition. None of the synthesised compounds had a marked inhibitory effect on EROD activity.

In this study, a series of benzimidazoles bearing thiosemicarbazide chain or triazole and thiadiazole rings were designed and synthesized. Crystal and molecular structure of the compound 5c has been characterized by single crystal X-ray crystallographic analysis. EGFR kinase inhibitory potencies of synthesized compounds were compared with erlotinib in vitro and most of the compounds exhibited significant activities. Cell culture studies were also carried out for selected compounds and 12b was found to be the most active compound. To understand the binding mode of synthesized benzimidazoles, three compounds (12b, 16, 16c) were selected and placed on the binding site of EGFR tyrosine kinase based on their kinase inhibitor potencies and cell culture studies. Docking study indicated that compound 12b showed two-hydrogen bonding interactions with residues of LYS721 and THR830 at the binding pocket., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)