Wojciech Kołodziejczyk

• PhD
• Professor (Associate) at Jackson State University

Due to an outbreak of COVID-19, the number of research papers devoted to in-silico drug discovery of potential antiviral drugs is increasing every day exponentially. Still, there is no specific drug to prevent or treat this novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) disease. Thus, the screening for a potential remedy presents a global challenge for scientists....

Phenolic acids are naturally occurring compounds that are known for their antioxidant and antiradical activity. We present experimental and theoretical studies on the antioxidant potential of the set of 22 phenolic acids with different models of hydroxylation and methoxylation of aromatic rings. Ferric reducing antioxidant power assay was used to e...

A D‐π‐A (donor‐π bridge‐acceptor) dye with a conjugated dipicolylamine group as the donor was synthesized and characterized. When zinc is bound to the dipicolylamine ligand, charge transfer strength from the donor is decreased resulting in a large blue‐shift in the absorption spectrum with a quenching of dye emission. Upon addition of phosphate, ch...

Even though COVID-19 is no longer the primary focus of the global scientific community, its high mutation rate (nearly 30 substitutions per year) poses a threat of a potential comeback. Effective vaccines have been developed and administered to the population, ending the pandemic. Nonetheless, reinfection by newly emerging subvariants, particularly...

Visual pigments are essential for converting light into electrical signals during vision. Composed of an opsin protein and a retinal-based chromophore, pigments in vertebrate rods (Rh1) and cones (Rh2) have different spectral sensitivities, with distinct peak absorption wavelengths determined by the shape and composition of the chromophore binding...

Immunotherapy, particularly targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway, holds promise in cancer treatment by regulating the immune response and preventing cancer cells from evading immune destruction. Nonetheless, this approach poses a risk of unwanted immune system activation against healthy cells. To minimize this risk, our study proposes a strategy based...

We present the analysis of the stability of the (TiO2)n nanoclusters, where n = 2–4, supported on the Fe3O3-hematite (100) surface. The analysis is focused on the size and geometry of the nanocluster, which defines the contact with the supporting hematite surface. The aim of the work is to explore the role of the interaction within the nanocluster...

The electrochromic properties and application of electronically conducting polymers (ECPs) (PTRPZ-EDOT) consisting of a 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) and the heteroacene-based molecular scaffold, 6H-pyrrolo[3,2-b:4,5-b'] bis [1,4] benzothiazine (TRPZ), are reported. Known for its high electron mobility and conducting properties, the novel TRPZ...

The rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 required immediate actions to control the transmission of the virus and minimize its impact on humanity. An extensive mutation rate of this viral genome contributes to the virus’ ability to quickly adapt to environmental changes, impacts transmissibility and antigenicity, and may facilitate immune escape. Therefore, i...

Even though the vast armamentarium of FDA-approved antiepileptic drugs is currently available, over one-third of patients do not respond to medication, which arises a need for alternative medicine. In clinical and preclinical studies, various investigations have shown the advantage of specific plant-based cannabidiol (CBD) products in treating cert...

“This research report shows how dyes can be rationally designed to give ultrabright emission in the near‐infrared spectral region by tightly binding to albumin. Two applications are demonstrated with record setting detectivity for albumin, and the imaging of α‐tubulin via immunohistochemistry with a biotinylated albumin–dye chaperone. The cover pic...

The Front Cover shows a single near‐infrared dye being laser excited and dimly fluorescing in an aqueous biological environment compared to a near‐infrared dye bound to albumin fluorescing brightly in the same environment. Cover designed by Karina Kapusta. More information can be found in the Research Article by Karina Kapusta, Jared H. Delcamp and...

The design of bright, high quantum yield (QY) materials in the near‐infrared (NIR) spectral region in water remains a significant challenge. A series of cyanine and squaraine dyes varying water solubilizing groups and heterocycles are studied to probe the interactions of these groups with albumin in water. Unprecedented, ′ultra‐bright′ emission in...

Non-noble metal based electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reactions hold great potential for commercial applications. However, effective design strategies are highly needed to manipulate the catalyst structures for high activity and...

Composite electrodeposited films fabricated from aqueous solution of electrolytes that contain ions of metals along with carbon nanomaterial particles such as fullerene C60 were investigated. Results for the cathodic polarization curve showed an increase in charge-transfer resistance. Phase composition analysis for metal films revealed the presence...

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have attracted significant research efforts due to their remarkable performance. However, most perovskite films are prepared by the antisolvent method which is not suitable for practical applications. Herein, a (FA0.83MA0.17)0.95Cs0.05Pb(I0.83Br0.17)3 (CsFAMA) perovskite film fabrication technique is developed using so...

Optoelectronic and charge transport properties of eight novel compounds are presented in this work. Density functional theory B3LYP was utilized to optimize all structures while time-dependent density functional theory was utilized for vertical excitation characteristics. Gas and solvent phases (water, THF, and DCM) were evaluated to gain insight o...

The challenges faced with current fluorescence imaging agents have motivated us to study two nanostructures based on a hydrophobic dye, 6H-pyrrolo[3,2-b:4,5-b’]bis [1,4]benzothiazine (TRPZ). TRPZ is a heteroacene with a rigid, pi-conjugated structure, multiple reactive sites, and unique spectroscopic properties. Here we coupled TRPZ to a tert-butyl...

Presented work reports a comprehensive theoretical study on the inhibitory nature of N-arylnaphthylamines in Human Immunodeficiency Virus Integrase (HIV IN) - Lens Epithelium-Derived Growth Factor (LEDGF/p75) complexes. Factors influencing the inhibition efficiency in AlphaScreen% assay are evaluated and explained through the structure- and ligand-...

PAHs, short for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, are a ubiquitous group of chemically related, environmentally persistent organic compounds having diverse structures and varied toxicity. They have been shown to cause mutagenic and carcinogenic effects on organisms and are quite immunosuppressive. Time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) o...

Mephedrone (4-methyl-meth-cathinone) or 4-MMC and its derivative 3-MMC are analogs of cathinone which act as non-selective substrates for monoamine transporters, facilitating a neurotransmitter release via the reversal of normal transporter fluxes. The pharmacological effects like paranoia, hallucinations, euphoria, aggressiveness, and psychosis ma...

Conformers of the psychoactive compound of the Khat plant cathinone along with its amino alcohol metabolites norephedrine and norpseudoephedrine have been calculated using DFT (M062X/B3LYP) and MP2 levels of theory for gas and solution phases. Gas-phase studies revealed that cathinone has two, norephedrine has four and norpseudoephedrine has three...

Two series of 2-thioxoimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine derivatives have been synthesized from 2,3-diaminopyridine (1) and 5-halogenosubstituted-2,3-diaminopyridines 2, 3. Mannich bases 7 - 12 and 24 - 29, derivatives of 1-arylamino-6-halogeno-2-thioxoimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine were obtained with selected secondary amines: morpholine, piperidine, 2-methoxyphenylp...

Flephedrone is an analogue of cathinone - chemically similar to ephedrine, cathine and other amphetamines. Conformations of all isomers of flephedrone have been studied at the quantum-chemical level. Calculations have been performed using DFT and MP2 methods with two basis sets - 6-31G and 6-31G(d,p). Results show that there are low energy conforme...

We have studied the relative stability of hydrogen-terminated single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) segments, and open-ended SWNT fragments of varying diameter and chirality that are present at the interface of the catalytic metal particles during growth. We have found that hydrogen-terminated SWNTs differ by <1 eV in stability among different chi...

This study sought to collect information on the former ´´legal-high´´ mephedrone. Legal high are compounds, plants or fungal material which can be readily bought from the internet without legal restriction and the single chemicals may be structurally related to illegal drugs of abuse such as the amphetamines. Several recent deaths in the United Kin...

The foreign atom doping influences the properties of carbon materials, and it is a possible way of designing materials of desired characteristics. Density functional calculations have been carried out on various isomers of boron-doped (4,0) and (9,0) carbon nanotubes as templates to investigate the doping effect on the structure and electronic prop...

The interactions of diisopropylfluorophosphate (DFP) with model MgO and CaO surfaces have been investigated using density functional (DFT) and Møller-Plesset second order perturbation techniques. The geometries were fully optimized at the DFT level. The calculated interaction energies and the corresponding thermodynamic properties show that DFP is...

The electronic structure of model platinum-guanine and tin-guanine adducts has been studied both at semiempirical level and by using ab initio methods at the correlation level. The possible binding energies have been evaluated and most probable strustures were determined. In all cases the binding enegies of the gaseous tin chelates are rather large...