Carbohydrate-binding small molecules with antiviral activity

[0065]This disclosure provides a series of small molecule SCRs that preferentially bind mannosides and glucosides. The binding of some of these SCRs with a series of monosaccharides was studied by 1H NMR in chloroform and dichloromethane, and their association constants (Kas) toward a series of biologically relevant monosaccharides were reported, with selectivities as high as 103:1 β Man:β Gal. This preference for binding mannosides is driven by cooperative binding modes that arise from the flexible and multivalent structures of the SCRs. As association between glycan binding proteins on the envelope of ZIKV and glycans on the cell surface is an important part of viral entry into the host cell, the SCRs may disrupt this process.

[0066]This disclosure describes the ability of small-molecule SCRs to mitigate ZIKV infection in Vero and HeLa cells using a ZIKV reporter virus-based infection assay. The capsid-premembrane-envelope (C-prM-E) gene construct of ZIKV is used to generate reporter