Photochemical inactivation of deoxyribonucleic and ribonucleic acid viruses by chlorpromazine

Chlorpromazine, a widely used tranquilizing drug of the phenothiazine group, was found to be a very potent photochemical inactivator of both deoxyribonucleic acid and ribonucleic acid viruses in the presence of long-wave ultraviolet light (320 to 380 nm). Neither the light alone nor chlorpromazine alone caused any appreciable inactivation. The known chlorpromazine photoreactions with nucleic acids are somewhat similar to those of psoralen (furocoumarin) derivatives. As in the case of the psoralens, chlorpromazine is capable of photoinactivating viruses totally within a few minutes under near-physiological or other gentle conditions. The antiviral effects of the chlorpromazine photoreaction could make it valuable for the development of inactivated viral vaccines as well as for use in the photochemotherapy of viral dermatoses.