Targeted Agglutination of Corona Virus by Tapered Chiral Nanoparticles

Abstract

The emergence of new viral threats, wide applications of viruses in biotechnology and challenges associated with viral contamination necessitate multiple types of virustatic agents. Here, we show that highly biocompatible tapered CuS nanoparticles efficiently agglutinate COVID virus with binding affinity dependent on chirality of surface ligands and particle shape. L-penicillamine-stabilized nanoparticles with left-handed curved apexes display half-maximal inhibitory concentration as low as 0.57 pM for authentic SARS-CoV-2 viruses, which is ca 15 times greater than for antibodies. Exposure to elevated temperatures causes no change in activity or biocompatibility of nanoparticles while completely deactivating antibodies. Testing with mice indicates that the chirality-optimized nanoparticles can serve as analogs of high antiviral molecular weight biologics complementing the current spectrum of virustatic agents. Their thermal and chemical stability simplifies their applications in biomedical and biotechnological processes.