Chromene and its Derivatives in the Treatment of SARS-COV- 2 Virus Infection

Coronavirus pandemics are characterizing the 21st century in itself. In 2002- 03, the first coronavirus SARS-CoV caused Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS); in 2012, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) made its appearance, and in 2019, a new human beta coronavirus strain, the SARS-CoV-2 led to COVID-19 pandemic that took over the entire globe under its rollout. The scientific research and medical challenges to save lives have revealed the biochemistry and genetic evolution of an important cycle of the new pathogen, which has steered us to new preventive and therapeutic approaches to treat SARS-CoV-2. Until now, there is a scant resource of vaccines available, and therefore, it is very challenging to dose huge mass around the world. Moreover, there are other various difficulties in producing, distributing, and storing vaccines; the allopathic drug is always a thrust in this situation. Various in-silico and in-vitro studies have helped to prove that natural molecules containing chromene have shown their effectiveness in the treatment of SARS-CoV-2. Pleiotropic activities and the absence of systemic toxicity of natural chromene and its derivatives represent potential target compounds in clinical trials to enrich the drug armament against coronavirus infections. In this chapter, efforts are being made to discuss the recent investigation of the progress of chromenes in treating SARS-COV-2 virus infection and various treatments involving the possible use of poly-substituted chromene compounds of modern and natural medicines for the treatment of COVID-19.

Keywords: Anti-viral, Chromene, COVID-19, 3CLpro and PLpro inhibitors, Herbal medicines, Proteases, SARS COV-2.