Determination of phytochemical composition, COVID-19 SPIKE ACE2 binding inhibition potential and in silico molecular docking and ADME properties of Chaerophyllum hakkiaricum herb

There is no specific drug to treat COVID-19 or a vaccine to prevent it. Today, there is an increasing focus on the discovery of new drugs with anti-COVID-19 properties. Drugs derived from natural compounds may create new alternatives. Therefore, in the present study, the anti-COVID properties of Chaerophyllum hakkiaricum were investigated for the first time. For this purpose, in vitro assays were performed spectrophotometrically using commercial kits. Plant content was determined by HPL-DAD method. Subsequently, the ADME properties of the identified components were studied using the SwissADME web tool. Molecular docking studies were analyzed with the SwissDock web tool using the 7U0N protein identified as the target. The results obtained showed that COVID-19 binding inhibition was 15.38% at the highest concentrations of 0.01, 0.001 and 0.0001µl. In molecular docking analysis, rutin (-7.94 kcal/mol) and rosmarinic acid (-6.64 kcal/mol) showed the highest binding affinity, respectively. These results revealed that Chaerophyllum hakkiaricum could be an effective candidate for the prevention and treatment of COVID19.