Aedes aegypti mosquitoes transmit several human pathogens that cause millions of deaths worldwide, mainly in Latin America. The indiscriminate use of insecticides has resulted in the development of species resistance to some such compounds. Piperidine, a natural alkaloid isolated from Piper nigrum, has been used as a hit compound due to its larvicidal activity against Aedes aegypti. In the present study, piperidine derivatives were studied through in silico methods: pharmacophoric evaluation (PharmaGist), pharmacophoric virtual screening (Pharmit), ADME/Tox prediction (Preadmet/Derek 10.0^®), docking calculations (AutoDock 4.2) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation on GROMACS-5.1.4. MP-416 and MP-073 molecules exhibiting ΔG binding (MMPBSA −265.95 ± 1.32 kJ/mol and −124.412 ± 1.08 kJ/mol, respectively) and comparable to holo (ΔG binding = −216.21 ± 0.97) and pyriproxyfen (a well-known larvicidal, ΔG binding= −435.95 ± 2.06 kJ/mol). Considering future in vivo assays, we elaborated the theoretical synthetic route and made predictions of the synthetic accessibility (SA) (SwissADME), lipophilicity and water solubility (SwissADME) of the promising compounds identified in the present study. Our in silico results show that MP-416 and MP-073 molecules could be potent insecticides against the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.

When an epidemic started in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, coronavirus was identified as the cause. Infection by the virus occurs through the interaction of viral S protein with the hosts’ angiotensin-converting enzyme 2. By leveraging resources such as the DrugBank database and bioinformatics techniques, ligands with potential activity against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein were designed and identified in this investigation. The FTMap server and the Molegro software were used to determine the active site of the Spike-ACE2 protein’s crystal structure. Virtual screening was performed using a pharmacophore model obtained from antiparasitic drugs, obtaining 2000 molecules from molport^®. The ADME/Tox profiles were used to identify the most promising compounds with desirable drug characteristics. The binding affinity investigation was then conducted with selected candidates. A molecular docking study showed five structures with better binding affinity than hydroxychloroquine. Ligand_003 showed a binding affinity of −8.645 kcal·mol⁻¹, which was considered an optimal value for the study. The values presented by ligand_033, ligand_013, ligand_044, and ligand_080 meet the profile of novel drugs. To choose compounds with favorable potential for synthesis, synthetic accessibility studies and similarity analyses were carried out. Molecular dynamics and theoretical IC₅₀ values (ranging from 0.459 to 2.371 µM) demonstrate that these candidates are promising for further tests. Chemical descriptors showed that the candidates had strong molecule stability. Theoretical analyses here show that these molecules have potential as SARS-CoV-2 antivirals and therefore warrant further investigation.

This study investigated the potential of selected compounds as inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 M^pro through pharmacokinetic and toxicological analyses, molecular docking, and molecular dynamics simulations. In silico molecular docking simulations revealed promising ligands with favorable binding affinities for M^pro, ranging from −6.2 to −9.5 kcal/mol. Moreover, molecular dynamics simulations demonstrated the stability of protein–ligand complexes over 200 ns, maintaining protein secondary structures. MM-PBSA analysis revealed favorable interactions between ligands and M^pro, with negative binding energy values. Hydrogen bond formation capacity during molecular dynamics was confirmed, indicating consistent interactions with M^pro catalytic residues. Based on these findings, selected ligands show promise for future studies in developing COVID-19 treatments.

Cadmium is a toxic metal from 12th group and 5th period of the periodic table. It’s common its use in batteries manufacturing and metal alloys production. It is absorbed by the organism of animals and plants causing risks to human health by bioaccumulation. Even with proven levels of toxicity, complexes involving this atom have biological activity according to several studies. As a study methodology, data were prospected in different databases for patents and the scientific papers published in the period up 1962 to 2021. Only 3 patents were found regarding the biological activity of complexes containing cadmium, although 3.257 results have been found for Cd (II) articles. The database with the highest number of published articles was Scifinder with 63% (2.037) of the articles. Few articles approached anthelmintic activity, showing that future research related to chemical substances containing this metal is a possibility in the new anthelmintic drugs investigation.

Ebola is a disease caused by viruses of the ebolavirus genus that cause hemorrhagic fever with high human mortality. Symptoms of the infection include fever, headache, joint pain, diarrhea, vomiting and stomach pain. Unfortunately, there is still no effective treatment for this disease. This work aimed to perform a virtual screening of candidates with EBOV GP inhibition potential based on pharmacophores of 4 structures from the literature. The selected candidates underwent ADME analysis and later calculations of HOMO, LUMO and electrostatic potential map. 50 structures were obtained and after selection based on their ADME characteristics only 4 candidates were chosen. In the molecular anchoring process, the structure that presented the best binding energy was ZINC12 with -4.44 kcal.mol-1 and enzyme inhibition constant Ki equal to 555.9 µM. This result is fundamental, as it will subsidize other researches such as in vitro studies, or even application in real samples.

Computational chemistry only gained international recognition after making a significant contribution to the scientific advances that resulted in Nobel prizes. With the technological evolution of the last decades, software was created with the aim of studying, investigating and understanding chemical processes at the molecular level of experimental studies. This promoted research agility and reduced costs with laboratory work. In this work, 5 different sets of computational bases were studied: STO-3G, LAN2DZ, SDD, 3-21G and DGDZVP, using the GaussView 5 and Gaussian 09w software with the DFT and B3LYP functional hybrid method. The distance and angle parameters of the di-u-chloro-bis complex [chlorine (4,7-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline) cadmium (II)] were obtained. The RMSD values obtained for each of the bases were observed. Molecular docking test was performed for each base, to verify which one had better parameters. It was noted in this study that the set of SDD bases presented the best results in the tests, being classified as the most suitable for studies of structures containing the element cadmium in its composition.