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Moro Balakrishnan's avatar

As an organic chemist, I would put my bets on electrostatic interactions ( cell walls, virus spike active sites) as to why CPC is so effective in deactivating this virus almost instantly. I don’t see any role for NO here, though by itself NO is powerful. With its similar structure, Nicotine could be as effective, for the same reasons. It is very much amenable for a synthetic conversion to a CPC analogue, in which case it is my guess that it can be devastatingly powerful for the virus. This conversion might possibly eliminate the concerns about nicotine. Any takers for this simple exploration ? Nicotine is used for weaning from smoking and as such all that is wrong about tobacco should not be ascribed to it. Tobacco has more than 3000 identified chemical constituents, including other alkaloids. Also, we are looking at only short/medium term therapy with these molecules, ideally in combination with others.

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Moro Balakrishnan's avatar

Nicotine’s chemical structure is a perfect fit as anti viral - if my premise is correct. Small, two rings, one a pyridine and the N-methyl pyrrolidine ring. The latter, in particular, can latch on to the cationic spike segments and render them useless. That is how, Nicotine can strip this virus. If I were a working drug (organic) chemist ( long retired, though), I would have added a Cetyl chain to the pyridine nitrogen, make it a powerful quarternary centre, which would protect the anionic surfaces of host cell walls from the approaching virus, a la, CPC (Cetyl Pyridinium Chloride), the common mouth wash ingredient that destroys this virus in seconds. That is some very simple chemistry at work. By the same mechanisms, Nicotine would also save cells from the lingering cationic lipid nano shells of m-RnA vaccines and even destroy them - eliminate one pathogenic source for long vax manifestations. People are benefiting from its use, but the experiences has not caught the attention of mainstream clinician.

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