Phytochemical analysis and potential natural compounds against SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 in essential oils derived from medicinal plants originating from Lebanon. An information note

Abstract

The aim of the study is to identify potential natural compounds against SARS-CoV-2 occurring in essential oils (EOs) following literature data attesting their anti-viral activity. The epidemic virus that started in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, has spread worldwide as a global pandemic. The interest in the development of drugs from natural products has increased greatly in recent decades. (EOs) have been studied over the centuries and are known to possess various pharmaceutical properties. Recent antiviral and silico methods are used to discover phyto-compounds, suitable for coronavirus treatment. To obtain this result we employed gas chromatography for the analysis of essential oils from Laurus nobilis, Pinus pinea, Pistacia palaestina, Juniperus oxycedrus, Juniperus excelsa, Pinus brutia, Cupressus sempervirens, Lavandula stoechas, Origanum syriacum, O. ehrenbergi, Salvia tribola, Satureja thymbra, Calamintha origanifolia, Foeniculum vulgare, Mentha longifolia, Cuminum cyminum and Pimpinella anisum.

Keywords:

• COVID-19
• SARS-CoV-2
• medicinal plants
• essential oils
• natural compounds

Acknowledgements

This work is dedicated to the memory of Professor Dr. Wilfried A. Koenig (University of Hamburg, Germany), who played a key role in phytochemistry and to the memory of prof. Dr. Joachim W. Engels (University of Frankfurt, Germany), who worked on phosphoramidite synthesis for DNA and synthesis gene. This is just a humble expression of our appreciation for their dedication to research and science at higher level during the last decades. “RG is a key investigator of the MUR-FISR COVID-miRNAPNA Project (FISR2020IP_04128)”. The authors thank the reviewers for their valuable suggestions during the review procedure.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).