Enveloped virus inactivation by fatty acid derivatives.

The enveloped bacteriophage phi6 has been shown to be a valuable model system for the preliminary screening of compounds that might be expected to inactivate herpes simplex virus and other enveloped mammalian viruses. A variety of fatty acid derivatives that form fluid micelles in aqueous media have been found to be potent inactivators of phi6. The chemical nature of the polar head group, the length of the alkyl chain(s), and the extent and geometry of unsaturation are all important parameters in determining the antiviral effectiveness of this class of compounds.