Table 2.

Overview of the most recent studies on the potential activity of phenolic acids against microbial and viral relevant infections, including SARS-CoV-2.

Phenolic Acid Treatment	Activity against Microorganism/Infections	References
CA enhanced with chelated inorganic ions (or a metal such as iron)	Antiviral activity towards herpes simplex (HSV), VSV-Ebola pseudotypes and vaccinia viruses occurred early in the virus replication cycle.	[123]
CA (1.5 mg/mL) and chlorogenic acid (3 mg/mL)	Phenolic cocktail significantly inhibit the growth of the food born pathogen Listeria monocytogenes.	[99]
Methanol extracts of the leaf and stem of E. africana (rich in GA)	Antioxidant and antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus (S. aureus and S. pyogenes) with a minimum inhibitory concentration of 1.56 mg/mL—great potential for treatment of open wounds	[126]
CA and GA	CA and GA were found to exert good anti-viral activity against human coronavirus NL63 (HCoV-NL63)	[132]
CA and p-CA	Phenolic acids were found to bind to cell-surface HSPA5 competing for recognition by SARS-CoV-2 spike protein	[129]
Screening of 27 CA derivatives against 5 proteins of SARS-CoV-2	5 CA derivatives exerted anti-viral efficacy against COVID-19 via molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation.	[133]

CA: caffeic acid, GA: gallic acid, p-CA: coumaric acid.