The combination of electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions plays a key role at the interface between coronavirus and materials. Image Credit: Ievgen S. Donskyi
The combination of electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions plays a key role at the interface between coronavirus and materials. Image Credit: Ievgen S. Donskyi - Researchers at Freie Universität Berlin produce virus-rupturing nanomaterials, opening up new possibilities for fighting the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus No 029/2021 from Feb 18, 2021 Researchers at Freie Universität Berlin have developed an innovative 2D graphene platform based on nanomaterials that can be used to destroy the membrane envelope of coronavirus cells. The research team showed that innovative graphene-based nanostructures can be used to fight different variants of the coronavirus, destroying virus particles by combining nanographene with polyglycerol sulfates and alkyl amine chains. "The study shows that combination of the dual functionalities of polyglycerol sulfates and alkyl amine chains with the carbon-based nanoplatform offers an efficient strategy for controlling the interactions between the virus and materials, and even to destroy the virus itself," explains Professor Rainer Haag of Freie Universität Berlin. The findings of the study have been published in the scientific journal small . Like many other viruses, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has a lipid layer, or "membrane envelope." On the surface of the envelope are spike protein structures that cause infection when the virus penetrates a host cell after initial binding. In their study, the researchers show that electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions occur at the interface between the multifunctional nanoplatform and the coronavirus.
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