Antiviral and antifungal activities of lanthanum molybdate and copper molybdate

Abstract

After La2Mo2O9 (LMO), Cu-substituted LMO (LCuMO), and CuMoO4 (CuMO) powders were prepared by complex polymerization method or oxide mixing method, their antiviral and antifungal activities were evaluated. The obtained samples were powders having a crystal structure of either La2Mo2O9 or CuMoO4 with specific surface area of 3.0–6.0 m2/g. These samples exhibited almost equal antiviral activity against bacteriophage Qβ, whereas CuMO was found to have the highest antiviral activity against bacteriophage Φ6. An antifungal activity test based on JIS Z 2911 showed LCuMO and CuMO to have high activity; CuMO had high antiviral and antifungal activity. In fact, CuMO had a large amount of ion leakage to the inoculated suspension. The Cu ion leakage was promoted by that of molybdate ion. The high antifungal activity of CuMO was inferred as attributable to the large amount of ion leakage and the generation of reactive oxygen species.