antiviral activity of flavonoid compounds in the treatment of covid-19: molecular docking study

The rapidly enlarging covid-19 pandemic caused by the novel sars-cov-2 is a global public health emergency of an unprecedented level. the purpose of this study is to provide an insight on how flavonoids that possess antiviral properties can effectively inhibit this novel corona virus. an in silico approach is carried out as a means of investigating the probable inhibitory effect. the indispensable function of the main protease (pdb6lu7) protein of sars-cov-2 in virus replication, makes this enzyme a promising target for inhibitors screening and drug discovery to treat novel coronavirus infection. so, it is considered as the target protein to which 2 flavonoids having antiviral properties, apigenin and luteolin, are docked to analyze the binding mode having the least binding energy. interestingly, both of them showed extremely good binding affinity.