Progress of SARS‐CoV‐2 Main protease peptide‐like inhibitors

The pneumonia outbreak caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) infection poses a serious threat to people worldwide. Although vaccines have been developed, antiviral drugs are still needed to combat SARS‐CoV‐2 infection due to the high mutability of the virus. SARS‐CoV‐2 main protein (Mpro) is a special cysteine protease that is a key enzyme for SARS‐CoV‐2 replication. It is encoded by peptides and is responsible for processing peptides into functional proteins, making it an important drug target. The paper reviews the structure and peptide‐like inhibitors of SARS‐CoV‐2 Mpro, also the binding mode and structure–activity relationship between the inhibitors and Mpro are introduced in detail. It is hoped that this review can provide ideas and help for the development of anti‐coronavirus drugs such as COVID‐19, and help to develop broad‐spectrum antiviral drug for the treatment of coronavirus diseases as soon as possible. The paper reviews the structure and peptide‐like inhibitors of SARS‐CoV‐2 Mpro, also the binding mode and structure—activity relationship between the inhibitors and Mpro are introduced in detail. It is hoped that this review can provide ideas and help for the development of anti‐coronavirus drugs such as COVID‐19, and help to develop broad‐spectrum antiviral drug for the treatment of coronavirus diseases as soon as possible.