Computational simulations on the binding and reactivity of a nitrile inhibitor of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease

We present a detailed computational analysis of the binding mode and reactivity of the novel oral inhibitor PF-07321332 developed against the SARS-CoV-2 3CL protease. Alchemical free energy calculations suggest that positions P3 and P4 could be susceptible to improvement in order to get a larger binding strength. QM/MM simulations unveil the reaction mechanism for covalent inhibition, showing that the nitrile warhead facilitates the recruitment of a water molecule for the proton transfer step.