Palli Thordarson (@PalliThordarson), a professor of chemistry at the University of New South Wales in Australia, says soap is more effective at killing coronavirus than alcohol.
He explained that the new coronavirus can be viewed as a self-assembled nanostructure, the most vulnerable part of which is the lipid bilayer envelope composed of double-layered phospholipid molecules.
1/25 Part 1 - Why does soap work so well on the SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus and indeed most viruses? Because it is a self-assembled nanoparticle in which the weakest link is the lipid (fatty) bilayer. A two part thread about soap, viruses and supramolecular chemistry #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/OCwqPjO5Ht
— Palli Thordarson (@PalliThordarson) March 8, 2020
The soap in the hand sanitizer can easily dissolve lipids and disintegrate the virus's membrane. As soon as the soapy water was rubbed, the internal structure of the virus was scattered like a box of playing cards and lost its activity.
Generally, such viruses remain infectiously active outside the human body for hours or even days. Although alcohol-based disinfectants can also quickly inactivate the virus, they are not as good as ordinary soaps.
27/39 So let’s try washing it off with plain water. It might just work. But water “only” competes with the strong “glue-like” interactions between the skin and virus via hydrogen bonds. They virus is quite sticky and may not budge. Water isn’t enough.
— Palli Thordarson (@PalliThordarson) March 8, 2020
The other germicidal ingredients in the disinfectant are also useless for viruses.
Special Report: Fighting The New Coronavirus
