Stanislaw Wnuk

Professor; Associate Dean of Graduate Education

Chemistry and Biochemistry; Biomolecular Sciences Institute

Office: CP 352

Phone: 305-348-6195

Email: wnuk@fiu.edu

Research Areas

Organic chemistry of nucleosides and nucleotides with applications in biochemistry and in anticancer and antiviral medicine
Stereochemically defined transformations of nucleic acid components, invention of mechanism-based inhibitors of enzymes vital to cancer cell and/or virus proliferation, and collaborative biochemical evaluation
Intuitive a priori design and synthesis of nucleoside analogues constructed with features that are chemically activated in the initial steps of an enzyme mechanism where spontaneous subsequent reactions cause enzyme inactivation. The targeted enzymes include S-adenosylhomocysteine and S-ribosylhomocysteine (LuxS) hydrolases and ribonucleotide reductases
The design and synthesis of 18F labeled nucleosides for Positron Emission Imaging
Developing new procedures for radical-mediated cleavage of carbon-sulfur bond in sulfones and application of the vinyl silanes and germanes in Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions
Developing functionalization of nucleoside bases employing C-H direct bond activation