Pre-resonance Raman and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy study of the complex of the antiviral and antiparkinsonian drug amantadine with histidine

UV-pre-resonance Raman spectroscopy (PRS) and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) were applied to study the interaction of the antiviral and antiparkinsonian agent amantadine with histidine. The binding sites of amantadine and histidine molecules were identified in the complex. In this model, (i) the amino group of amantadine and the NIH group of histidine are included in the complex formation, (ii) the creation of the complex is mediated via formation of an H-bond between the nitrogen of the amantadine amino group and the hydrogen of the histidine NIH group. This model of the amantadine-histidine complex formation is discussed in the relation to a possible mode of interaction of the M2 protein transmembrane region with amantadine. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.