Amphiphilic Sulfonated Polycarbonates Inactivate SARS-CoV-2 in Seconds

The global pandemic due to the severe acute respiratorysyndromecoronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has led to more than 661 million infectionsand over 6.6 million deaths worldwide since its inception in 2019.There is an urgent need for safe and effective antiviral solutions,especially those with rapid inactivation kinetics, to help preventviral transmissions. In this study, we report the design and synthesisof amphiphilic sulfonated polycarbonates and investigate the effectof polycarbonate compositions on their antiviral activity. A polycarbonatewith an optimal balance of the hydrophilic anionic sulfonate (& SIM;30%)and the hydrophobic n-butyl (& SIM;70%) pendentgroups inactivates various types of coronaviruses in solution, includinghuCoV-OC43, ancestral wild-type SARS-CoV-2, and the delta variant,within seconds, while exhibiting low cytotoxicity to mammalian cells(i.e., Vero E6) at the virucidal concentration. This amphiphilic sulfonatedpolycarbonate may be a promising solution to inactivate viruses assprays for prevention of viral infection.