{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,26]],"date-time":"2026-08-26T14:18:01Z","timestamp":1787753881910,"version":"build-2784847793"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"24","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,9]],"date-time":"2020-12-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1607472000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004329","name":"Javna Agencija za Raziskovalno Dejavnost RS","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["P2-0046, J1-1715, J1-2471, J1-9186"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["P2-0046, J1-1715, J1-2471, J1-9186"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004329","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100011758","name":"Ministrstvo za visoko \u0161olstvo, znanost in tehnologijo","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["HPC-RIVR"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["HPC-RIVR"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100011758","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Molecules"],"abstract":"<jats:p>SARS-CoV-2, or severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, represents a new strain of Coronaviridae. In the closing 2019 to early 2020 months, the virus caused a global pandemic of COVID-19 disease. We performed a virtual screening study in order to identify potential inhibitors of the SARS-CoV-2 main viral protease (3CLpro or Mpro). For this purpose, we developed a novel approach using ensemble docking high-throughput virtual screening directly coupled with subsequent Linear Interaction Energy (LIE) calculations to maximize the conformational space sampling and to assess the binding affinity of identified inhibitors. A large database of small commercial compounds was prepared, and top-scoring hits were identified with two compounds singled out, namely 1-[(R)-2-(1,3-benzimidazol-2-yl)-1-pyrrolidinyl]-2-(4-methyl-1,4-diazepan-1-yl)-1-ethanone and [({(S)-1-[(1H-indol-2-yl)methyl]-3-pyrrolidinyl}methyl)amino](5-methyl-2H-pyrazol-3-yl)formaldehyde. Moreover, we obtained a favorable binding free energy of the identified compounds, and using contact analysis we confirmed their stable binding modes in the 3CLpro active site. These compounds will facilitate further 3CLpro inhibitor design.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules25245808","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,10]],"date-time":"2020-12-10T22:15:36Z","timestamp":1607638536000},"page":"5808","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":32,"title":["Ensemble Docking Coupled to Linear Interaction Energy Calculations for Identification of Coronavirus Main Protease (3CLpro) Non-Covalent Small-Molecule Inhibitors"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"25","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6083-5024","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marko","family":"Juki\u010d","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Physical Chemistry and Chemical Thermodynamics, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Maribor, Smetanova ulica 17, SI-2000 Maribor, Slovenia"},{"name":"Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, University of Primorska, Glagolja\u0161ka 8, SI-6000 Koper, Slovenia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4067-0116","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Du\u0161anka","family":"Jane\u017ei\u010d","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, University of Primorska, Glagolja\u0161ka 8, SI-6000 Koper, Slovenia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Urban","family":"Bren","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Physical Chemistry and Chemical Thermodynamics, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Maribor, Smetanova ulica 17, SI-2000 Maribor, Slovenia"},{"name":"Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, University of Primorska, Glagolja\u0161ka 8, SI-6000 Koper, Slovenia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"536","DOI":"10.1038\/s41564-020-0695-z","article-title":"The species severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus: Classifying 2019-nCoV and naming it SARS-CoV-2","volume":"5","author":"Gorbalenya","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nat. 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