Green chemistry and coronavirus

Abstract

The novel coronavirus pandemic has rapidly spread around the world since December 2019. Various techniques have been applied in identification of SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19 infection including computed tomography imaging, whole genome sequencing, and molecular methods such as reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). This review article discusses the diagnostic methods currently being deployed for the SARS-CoV-2 identification including optical biosensors and point-of-care diagnostics that are on the horizon. These innovative technologies may provide a more accurate, sensitive and rapid diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 to manage the present novel coronavirus outbreak, and could be beneficial in preventing any future epidemics. Furthermore, the use of green synthesized nanomaterials in the optical biosensor devices could leads to sustainable and environmentally-friendly approaches for addressing this crisis.

Keywords: COVID-19; Early diagnosis; Optical biosensor; Point-of-care; SARS-CoV-2.

Graphical abstract

Fig. 1

Schematics for the current Lung computed tomography (CT), molecular assays for detection of COVID-19, and emerging diagnostics assays based on optical –based biosensor and POC testing.

Fig. 2

Schematic illustration of four structures of antigenic proteins of coronavirus, nucleic acid and protein sequence of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (red area), and main residues in the spike protein that bonding to the ACE2 receptor (blue area) (Andersen et al., 2020). (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)

Fig. 3

Schematic illustration of Au NPs assembled into GSPs, (A) GSP@ZIF-8 core-shell structure formation; (B) Detection of VOCs by SERS spectroscopy; (C) Interaction between gaseous aldehyde and covalent linkage with amines groups of Raman active 4-ATP molecule absorbed in GSPs substrate (Qiao et al., 2018).

Fig. 4

Schematic illustration of SERS nano tags (A); and different SERS spectra in presence of Ebola, Lassa, and malaria antigens (B); sandwich immunoassay, binding Antibodies - SERS nanotag to Antibodies - magnetic microparticle in presence of antigen (C) (Sebba et al., 2018).

Fig. 5

Schematic illustration of colorimetric detection of MERS-CoV nucleic acids; (a) aggregation of Au NPs in the absence of targets by addition of salt; (b) preventing Au NPs aggregation by disulfide induced self-assembly in the presence of targets (Kim et al., 2019).

Fig. 6

(A) Schematic illustration of dual functional plasmonic photothermal sensor for detection of SARS-CoV-2; (B) hybridization of RdRp gene sequence with complementary cDNA sequence with or without the PPT effect; (C) Discrimination of two similar sequences using PPT effect (Qiu et al., 2020).

Fig. 7

Schematic illustration of inhibitor screening of SARS-CoV N protein using QDs-RNA on prolinker™–coated biochip (Roh, 2012).

Fig. 8

Schematic illustration of chemiluminescence metalloimmunoassay of AFP using MOFs NPs (Fe-MIL-88B–NH2 NPs) as labelling agent (Zhou et al., 2016).

Fig. 9

Schematic comparison between of convention synthetic pathway and MCR strategy. Reproduced with permission from ref. (Alvim et al., 2014). Copyright (2014) Royal Society of Chemistry.

Fig. 10

Development of Ugi-holographic biosensor for cocaine detection applying a smartphone-based device. Reproduced with permission from ref. (Oliveira et al., 2018). Copyright (2018) Elsevier.