On the Action of Ozone on Phospholipids, a Model Compound of the External Envelope of Pericapsidic Viruses like Coronavirus. Part 1

ABSTRACT

Coronavirus is a virus with an external protective membrane known as pericapsid and composed essentially by a double layer of phospholipids (PPL) and other components. The destabilization or the decomposition of this pericapsid means the certain inactivation of the coronavirus. The purpose of this work is to show that ozone is able to oxidize easily the phospholipids destabilizing the micellar state of phospholipidic model compounds derived from soy lecithin. PPL were ozonized in reversal micelle state in n-hexane and in normal micelle state in aqueous emulsion. The progress of PPL ozonation was followed spectrophotometrically and iodometrically. It was found that in n-hexane PPL ozonides (PPL-O) start to precipitate at O₃/PPL = 1.5 molar ratio and the precipitation is complete at a molar ratio = 3, confirming the average presence of three double bonds per PPL molecule. The pseudofirst order kinetics of the reverse micelle destabilization oxidation to PPL-O was determined in the range of 1.98–6.75 × 10⁻³ s⁻¹. On the other hand, PPL in aqueous medium forms a milky emulsion with the PPL molecules arranged in the micelle. The action of ozone on this emulsion causes the complete destabilization of the micelles due to the oxidation of the unsaturated fatty chains of PPL and at O₃/PPL = 3 molar ratio the solution appears completely transparent, i.e. the original micellar state is disappeared at a rate of 3.0 × 10⁻³ s⁻¹. PPL-O was also studied by FT-IR, DSC and polarimetry. The results derived from the ozonation of PPL model compound may be applied to the PPL double layer of coronavirus pericapsid, confirming the effectiveness of ozone in coronavirus inactivation.

KEYWORDS:

• Coronavirus
• pericapsid
• phospholipids
• double layer
• micelle
• ozone
• destabilization
• inactivation