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A series of polyguanidylated dendritic structures that can be used as molecular translocators have been designed and synthesized based on nonpeptide units. The dendritic oligoguanidines conjugated with fluorescein or with a green fluorescent protein (GFP) mutant as cargos were isolated and characterized. Quantification and time-course analyses of the cellular uptake of the conjugates using HeLa S3 and human cervical carcinoma cells reveal that the polyguanidylated dendrimers have comparable translocation efficiency to the Tat(49-57) peptide. Furthermore, the deconvolution microscopy image analysis shows that they are located inside the cells. These results clearly show that nonlinear, branched dendritic oligoguanidines are capable of translocation through the cell membrane. This work also demonstrates the potential of these nonpeptidic dendritic oligoguanidines as carriers for intracellular delivery of small molecule drugs, bioactive peptides, and proteins.

a b s t r a c tPicornaviruses (PV) and coronaviruses (CoV) are positive-stranded RNA viruses which infect millions of people worldwide each year, resulting in a wide range of clinical outcomes. As reported in this study, using high throughput screening against 6800 small molecules, we have identified several novel inhibitors of SARS-CoV 3CL pro with IC 50 of low lM. Interestingly, one of them equally inhibited both 3C pro and 3CL pro from PV and CoV, respectively. Using computer modeling, the structural features of these compounds as individual and common protease inhibitors were elucidated to enhance our knowledge for developing anti-viral agents against PV and CoV.

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