AWUAH RESEARCH LABORATORY DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY @UK
  • Home
  • Research
  • Publication
  • Team
  • Old News & Events
  • Join Us
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Research
  • Publication
  • Team
  • Old News & Events
  • Join Us
  • Contact
70. Ligand Electronics Dictate Geometry, Stability, and Cancer Cell Toxicity in Carbon-Stabilized Gold (III) Macrocycles. Holmes, J. C.; Egwu, A.; Parkin, S.; Dutta, S.; Ruhunage, S.; Risko, C.; Awuah, S. G. ChemBioChem 2026, in press.
HTML
PDF
Picture
69. Synthesis and Characterization of Deuterated Detomidine for use in Equine Medication Regulation. Holmes, J. C.; Arojojoye, A. S.; Awuah, S. G.; Eisenberg, R.; Fenger, C. K.; Maylin, G. A.; Brewer, K.; Tobin, T. Journal of Labelled Compounds and Radiopharmaceuticals 2026, ​in press. 
HTML
PDF
Picture
68. Preclinical, clinical, and commercialization of chitosan in the biomedical space.  Afrifa, M. A. O.; Awuah, S. G. Carbohydrate Polymers 2026, 371, 124456. 
HTML
PDF
Picture
67 Cyclometalated Gold(III)-Mediated Cysteine Arylation: A Bioorthogonal Platform for Covalent Targeting of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins. Munugoda, U.; Gilpatrick, S. T.; Das, D.; Parkin, S.; Miller, A.-F.; Awuah, S. G. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2025, 64 (50), e202516331. 
HTML
PDF
Picture
66. Expanding Three-Coordinate Gold(I) Anticancer Agent Chemical Space. Greif, C. E.; Orobator, O. N.; Olelewe, C.; Parkin, S.; Awuah, S. G. ​ Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2025, 68 (15), 15669-15682.
HTML
PDF
Picture
65. Expanding tricoordinate Au(I) complexes for efficient carbofunctionalization of alkynes to benzo-fused N-heterocycles and imines. Akrofi-Mantey, H.; Greif, C. E.; Odagwe, U. B.; Awuah, S. G.  Journal of Catalysis 2025, 450, 116317. 
HTML
PDF
Picture
64. Synthesis of novel derivatives from machilin C/D as antiproliferative agents against triple negative breast cancer. Ackerman, A. M.; Olewele, C.; Lynn, B. C.; Awuah, S. G.  European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry Reports 2025, 14, 100272.
​
HTML
PDF
Picture
63. Discovery of a Pyrazolopyridinone-Based MYC Inhibitor That Selectively Engages Intracellular c-MYC and Disrupts MYC-MAX Heterodimerization, Obisesan, O. A.; Ofori, S.; Orobator, O. N.; S., Himanshi; Groetecke, E.; Awuah, S. G.*, J. Med. Chem. 2025, 68 (6), 6233-6251.
HTML
PDF
Picture
62. Chemoproteomic Profiling of a Carbon-Stabilized Gold(III) Macrocycle Reveals Cellular Engagement with HMOX2, Gukathasan, S., Olelewe, C., Ratliff, L.  Kim, J-H., McCorkle, J. R. Parkin, S. Kwakye, G. F., Kolesar, J. M. *, and Awuah, S. G.*, J. Med. Chem. 2025, 68 (5), 5687-5698.​
HTML
PDF
Picture
61. Synthesis and characterization of deuterated bupivacaine and deuterated 3-oh-bupivacaine for use in equine medication regulation, Arojojoye, A. S.*, Holmes, J., Buchart, M. P., Awuah, S. G., Eisenberg, R., Fenger, C. K., Maylin, G. A., and Tobin, T.*, J. Labelled Comp. Radiopharm. 2025, 68 (3), e4132.
HTML
PDF
Picture
60. Stoichiometry effect on the structure, coordination and anticancer activity of gold(I/III) bisphosphine complexes. Arojojoye A. S., Holmes J., Obisesan O. A., Parkin S., Awuah S. G.*, Dalton Trans. 2025, 54, 2018-2026
HTML
PDF
Picture
59. Energy and endoplasmic reticulum stress induction by gold(III) dithiocarbamate and 2-deoxyglucose synergistically trigger cell death in breast cancer. Orobator, N. O.; Mertens, T. R., Obisesan, O. A., Awuah, S. G.*, J. Biol. Chem. 2024, 300, 107949.
HTML
PDF
58. Cu(I) Complexes for Intracellular Cu-Catalyzed Azide Alkyne Cycloaddition. Olivelli, A. G.; Olelewe, C.; Wolff, L.; Parkin, S.; Webster, C. E.; Awuah, S. G.; Huckaba, Chem. Eur. J. 2024, 30, e202402887.
HTML
PDF
Picture
57. Functional utility of gold complexes with phosphorus donor ligands in biological systems. Arojojoye, A. S.; Awuah, S. G.* Coord. Chem. Rev. 2025, 522, 216208. 
HTML
PDF
Picture
56. Carbon-phosphorus stapled Au(I) anticancer agents via bisphosphine induced reductive elimination, Gilpatrick, S. T., Obisesan, O. A., Parkin, S., Awuah, S. G.* Dalton Trans. 2024, 53, 18974-18982.
HTML
PDF
Picture
55. A metabolic switch orchestrated by IL-18 and the cyclic dinucleotide cGAMP programs intestinal tolerance. ​Randall T. Mertens, Aditya Misra, Peng Xiao, Seungbyn Baek, Joseph M. Rone, Davide Mangani, Kisha N. Sivanathan, Adedamola S. Arojojoye, Samuel G. Awuah, Insuk Lee, Guo-Ping Shi, Boryana Petrova, Jeannette R. Brook, Ana C. Anderson, Richard A. Flavell, Naama Kanarek, Martin Hemberg, Roni Nowarski, Immunity, 2024, 57(9):2077-2094.e12.
HTML
PDF
Picture
54. Enhanced mucosal mitochondrial function corrects dysbiosis and OXPHOS metabolism in IBD. Neeraj Kapur, M. Ashfaqul Alam, Syed Adeel Hassan, Parth H Patel, Lesley A. Wempe, Sarayu Bhogoju, Tatiana Goretsky, Jong Hyun Kim, Jeremy Herzog, Yong Ge, Samuel G. Awuah, Mariana Byndloss, Andreas J Baumler, Mansour M. Zadeh, R. Balfour Sartor, Terrence Barrett bioRxiv 2024.03.14.584471; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.03.14.584471​
HTML
PDF
Picture
53. Auranofin-Loaded Chitosan Nanoparticles Demonstrate Potency against Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Afrifa, M. A. O., Kim, J-H., Pitton, K. A., Olelewe, C., Arojojoye, A. S., Strachan, D. R., Suckow, M. A., Awuah, S. G.* ACS Appl. Bio Mater. 2024, 7, 3, 2012–2022.
HTML
PDF
Picture
52. Fang, J., Orobator, O. N., Olelewe, C., Passeri, G., Singh, K., Awuah, S. G.*, Suntharalingam, K.*, A breast cancer stem cell active cobalt(III)-cyclam complex containing flufenamic acid with immunogenic potential. Angew. Chem.Int. Ed. 2023, e202317940.
HTML
PDF
Picture
51. Mertens, T. R., Kim, J-H., Ofori, S., Olelewe, C., Kamitsuka, P., Kwakye, G. F., Awuah, S. G.*, A  gold-based inhibitor of oxidative phosphorylation is effective against triple negative breast cancer. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy 2024, 170, 116010
HTML
PDF
50. Arojojoye, A. S., Walker, B., Dawahare, J. C., Afrifa, M. O. A, Parkin, S., Awuah, S. G.* Circumventing physicochemical barriers of cyclometalated gold(III) dithiocarbamate complexes with protein-based nanoparticle delivery to enhance anticancer activity. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2023, 15, 37, 43607–43620
HTML
PDF
Picture
49.  Gukathasan, S., Obisesan, O. A., Saryazdi, S. Ratliff, L., Parkin, S., Grossman, R. B., Awuah, S. G.* A conformationally restricted gold(III) complex elicits antiproliferative activity in cancer cells. Inorg. Chem. 2023, 62, 32, 13118–13129
HTML
PDF
Picture
48.  Greif, C. E., Mertens, R. T., Berger, G., Parkin, S., Awuah, S. G.* An anti-glioblastoma gold(I)-NHC complex distorts mitochondrial morphology and bioenergetics to induce tumor growth inhibition. RSC Chem. Biol. 2023, 4, 592.
HTML
PDF
Picture
47.  Arojojoye, A. S., Olelewe, C., Gukathasan, S., Kim, J-H., Vekaria, H., Parkin, S., Sullivan, P. G.,  Awuah, S. G.* A Serum-Stable Gold(III) Complex Induces Mild Mitochondrial Uncoupling and In Vivo Antitumor Potency in Triple Negative Breast Cancer. J. Med. Chem. 2023, 66, 12, 7868–7879​.
HTML
PDF
Picture
46. Gukathasan, S., Awuah, S.G.* (2024). Metal-Mediated Ligand Affinity Chemistry (MLAC). In: Sullivan, M.O., Chackerian, B., Chen, W. (eds) Therapeutic Proteins. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2720. Humana, New York, NY.
HTML
PDF
45. Mertens, R. T.; Gukathasan, S.; Arojojoye, A. S.; Olelewe, C.; Awuah, S. G.*; Next Generation Gold Drugs and Probes: Chemistry and Biomedical Applications. Chem. Rev., 2023, 123, 10, 6612–6667. 
HTML
PDF
Picture
44. Johnson, A.; Olelewe, C.; Kim, J. H.; Northcote-Smith, J.; Mertens, R. T.; Passeri, G.; Singh, K.; Awuah, S. G. *; Suntharalingam, K.*, The anti-breast cancer stem cell properties of gold (I)-non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug complexes. Chem. Sci., 2023, 14, 557-565.
HTML
PDF
Picture
43. Olelewe, C., Awuah, S. G.* Mitochondria as a target of third row transition metal-based anticancer complexes. Curr Opin Chem Biol. 2023, 72:102235.
HTML
PDF
Picture
42. Kim, J-H., Ofori, S., Tagmount, A., Vulpe, C., Awuah, S. G.*, Genome-wide CRISPR screen reveal targets of tricoordinate gold(I) anticancer compound in mammalian cells, ACS Omega 2022, 7 (43), 39197-39205
HTML
PDF
Picture
41. Arojojoye, A. S., Kim, J-H., Olelewe, C., Parkin, S., Awuah, S. G.*, Chiral gold(III) complexes: speciation, in vitro, and in vivo anticancer profile. Chem. Commun., 2022, 58, 10237-10240
HTML
PDF
Picture
40. Kudrimoti S., Machin J., Arojojoye A.S., Awuah S. G., Eisenberg R., Fenger C., Maylin G., Lehner A. F., Tobin T*. Synthesis and characterization of d5 -barbarin for use in barbarin-related research. Drug Test Anal. 2022, 1-5.
HTML
PDF
39. Olelewe, C., Kim, J-H., Ofori, S., Mertens, R. T. Gukathasan, S., Awuah, S. G., Gold(III)-P-chirogenic complex induce mitochondrial dysfunction in triple-negative breast cancer. iScience 2022, 25, 104340 ​
HTML
PDF
Picture
38. Marloye, M.; Haider, I.; Moore, C. J.; Mertens, R. T.; Ingels, A.; Koch, M.; Nowicki, M. O.; Mathieu, V.; Pritchard, J.; Awuah, S. G.; Lawler, S. E.; Meyer, F.; Dufrasne, F.; Berger, G., Self-assembled ruthenium and osmium nanosystems display a potent anticancer profile by interfering with metabolic activity. Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers 2022, in press
HTML
PDF
Picture
37. Mertens, R.T., Greif, C., Coogle, J. T., Parkin, S., Berger, G., Watson, M. D. Awuah, S. G., Stable Au(I) catalysts for oxidant-free C-H Functionalization with Iodoarenes, Journal of Catalysis 2022, 408, 109-114
HTML
PDF
Picture
36. Gukathasan, S. and Awuah, S.G. Synthetic Strategies for the Preparation of Gold-based Anticancer Agents. In Encyclopedia of Inorganic and Bioinorganic Chemistry, R.A. Scott (Ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.: Chichester, UK, 2022.
HTML
PDF
Picture
35. Marloye M, Haider I, Moore CJ, Mertens TR, Ingels A, Koch M, et al. Self-assembled ruthenium and osmium nanosystems display potent anticancer profile by interfering with metabolic activity. ChemRxiv. Cambridge: Cambridge Open Engage; 2021.
HTML
PDF
34. Gukathasan, S.; Parkin, S.; Black, E. P.; Awuah, S. G.; Tuning cyclometalated gold(III) for cysteine arylation and ligand-directed bioconjugation. Inorg. Chem. 2021, 60, 14582–14593.
HTML
PDF
Picture
33. Kim, J.-H.; Ofori, S.; Mertens, R. T.; Parkin, S.; Awuah, S. G.; Water-soluble gold(III)-metformin complex alters mitochondrial bioenergetics in breast cancer cells. ChemMedChem. 2021, 16, 3222-3230. 
HTML
PDF
Picture
32. Kim, J.-H.; Ofori, S.; Parkin, S.; Vekaria, H; Sullivan, P.; Awuah, S. G.; Anticancer gold(III)-bisphosphine complex alters the mitochondrial electron transport chain to induce in vivo tumor inhibition. Chem. Sci. 2021, 12, 7467-7479
HTML
PDF
Picture
31. Mertens, R. T.; Jennings, W. C.; Ofori, S.; Kim, J.-H.; Parkin, S.; Kwakye, G. F.; Awuah, S. G., Synthetic control of mitochondrial dynamics: developing three-coordinate Au(I) Probes for perturbation of mitochondria structure and function. JACS Au 2021, 1, 439–449

HTML
PDF
Picture
30. Ofori, S.; Sailajah, G.; Awuah, S. G., Gold-based pharmacophore inhibits intracellular MYC protein. Chem. Eur. J. 2021, 27, 4168 –4175. ​
HTML
PDF
Picture
29. Arojojoye, A. S.; Mertens, R. T.; Ofori, S.; Parkin, S. R.; and Awuah, S. G., Synthesis, Characterization, and Antiproliferative Activity of Novel Chiral [QuinoxP*AuCl2]+Complexes. Molecules. 2020, 25 (23) 5735. 
​
HTML
PDF
Picture
28. Mertens, R. T., Parkin, S. R., Awuah, S. G., Cancer cell-selective modulation of mitochondrial respiration and metabolism by potent organogold(III) dithiocarbamates. Chem. Sci. 2020, Advance Article. 

HTML
PDF
Picture
27. George N., Ofori, S., Parkin, S., and Awuah, S. G.* Mild deprotection of the N-tert-butyloxycarbonyl (N-Boc) group using oxalyl chloride. RSC Adv., 2020,10, 24017-24026
HTML
PDF
Picture
26. Dennis, E. K., Kim, J.-H., Parkin, S., Awuah, S. G., Garneau-Tsodikova, S. Distorted Gold(I)−Phosphine Complexes as Antifungal Agents,  J. Med. Chem,  2020, 63, 2455-2469 .
HTML
PDF
Picture
25. Mertens R. T., Parkin, S., and Awuah, S. G. Exploring six-coordinate germanium(IV)-diketonate complexes as anticancer agents. (2019). 2020, 503, 119375. [Invited contribution for Prof. Tara P. Dasgupta: The special issue in Inorganica Chemica Acta] 
HTML
PDF
Picture
24. Kim J.-H., Reeder, E., Parkin, S. and Awuah, S. G. Gold(I/III)-Phosphine Complexes as Potent Antiproliferative Agents,  Sci. Rep.,  (2019) 9:12335 .
HTML
PDF
Picture
23. Mertens R. T., Parkin, S. and Awuah, S. G. Crystal structure of 1,3-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-1H-imidazol-3-ium chloride, Acta Cryst. (2019). E75, 1311–1315.

HTML
PDF
Picture
22. Ofori S., Awuah S. G. Small-molecule poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and PD-L1 inhibitor conjugates as dual-action anticancer agents ACS Omega, 2019, 4, 7, 12584-12597
html
pdf
Picture
21. Tan, X. Awuah, S. G. A cell-based screening system for RNA Polymerase I inhibitors. MedChemComm 2019.
HTML
PDF
Picture
20. Gukathasan, S.; Parkin, S.; Awuah, S. G. Cyclometalated Gold(III) Complexes Bearing DACH Ligands. Inorganic Chemistry 2019, 58, 149326-9340
html
pdf
Picture
19. Kim, J. H.; Mertens, R. T.; Agarwal, A.; Parkin, S.; Berger, G.; Awuah, S. G. Direct intramolecular carbon(sp2)–nitrogen(sp2) reductive elimination from gold(iii). Dalton Trans. 2019, 48, 6273-6282.
html
pdf
Picture
18. Mertens, R. T., Kim, J. H., Jennings, W. C., Parkin, S., Awuah, S. G. Revisiting the reactivity of tetrachloroauric acid with N,N-bidentate ligands: structural and spectroscopic insights. Dalton Trans 2019, 48, 2093-2099.
html
pdf
Picture
17. Mertens, R. T. Awuah, S. G. Gold Catalysis: Fundamentals and Recent Developments. Catalysis by Metal Complexes and Nanomaterials: Fundamentals and Applications Zhou, M., Ed. ACS Books 2019.
html
pdf
Picture

Prior to The University of Kentucky:
16. Maximizing synergistic activity when combining RNAi and platinum-based anticancer agents. Haihua Xiao, Ruogu Qi, Ting Li, Samuel G. Awuah, Yaorong Zheng, Wei Wei, Xiang Kang, Haiqin Song, Yongheng Wang, Yingjie Yu, Molly A. Bird, Xiabin Jing, Michael B. Yaffe, Michael J. Birrer, and P. Peter Ghoroghchian J. Am. Chem. Soc. , ASAP, A-L (2017).
15. Repair shielding of platinum-DNA lesions in testicular germ cell tumors by high-mobility group box protein 4 imparts cisplatin hypersensitivity . Samuel G. Awuah, Imogen Riddell, and Stephen J. Lippard, PNAS, 5, 950-955 (2017).
14. Chemical approach to positional isomers of glucose-platinum conjugates: specific cancer targeting through glucose-transporter mediated uptake in vitro and in vivo . Malay Patra, Samuel G. Awuah, and Stephen J. Lippard, J. Am. Chem. Soc. , 138, 12541-12551 (2016).
13. Tobacco mosaic virus delivery of phenanthriplatin for cancer therapy . Anna E. Czapar, Yao-Rong Zheng, Imogen Riddell, Sourabh Shukla, Samuel G. Awuah, Stephen J. Lippard, and Nicole F. Steinmetz ACS Nano , 10, 4119-4126 (2016).
12. A Platinum(IV) Prodrug Preferentially Targets IDO Providing Enhanced Ovarian Cancer Immuno-Chemotherapy . Samuel G. Awuah, Yao-Rong Zheng, Peter M. Bruno, Michael T. Hemann, and Stephen J. Lippard, J. Am. Chem. Soc. , 137, 14854-14857 (2015).
11. Selective accumulation and specific tumor damage by folate receptor-targeted CA-4 prodrug as part of a combination of photodynamic therapy and site-specific chemotherapy . Gregory Nkepang, Moses Bio, Pallavi Rajaputra, Samuel G. Awuah, and Youngjae You, Cancer Res. , 75, 4394 (2015).
10. Necroptosis-Inducing Rhenium(V) Oxo Complexes . Kogularamanan Suntharalingam, Samuel G. Awuah, Peter M. Bruno, Timothy C. Johnstone, Fang Wang, Wei Lin, Yao-Rong Zheng, Julia E. Page, Michael T. Hemann and Stephen J. Lippard, J. Am. Chem. Soc. , 137, 2967-2974 (2015).
9. Dual functioning thieno-pyrrole fused BODIPY dyes for NIR optical imaging and photodynamic therapy – singlet oxygen generation without heavy halogen atom assistance. Ryan L. Watley, Samuel G. Awuah, Moses Bio, Robert Cantu, Habtom B. Gobeze, Vladimir N. Nesterov, Sushanta K. Das, Francis D'Souza, and Youngjae You, Chem. As. J. , 10, 1335-1343 (2015).
8. Folate receptor-mediated enhanced and specific delivery of far-red light-activatable prodrugs of Combretastatin A-4 to FR-positive tumor. Gregory Nkepang, Moses Bio, Pallavi Rajaputra, Samuel G. Awuah, and Youngjae You, Bioconjugate Chem. , 25, 2175-2188 (2014).
7. Thieno-pyrrole-Fused 4,4-Difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza- s-indacenes Fullerene Dyads: Utilization of Near-Infrared Sensitizers for Ultrafast Charge Separation in Donor- Acceptor Systems. Venugopal Bandi, Sushanta K. Das, Samuel G. Awuah, Youngjae You, and Francis D'Souza, J. Am.Chem. Soc., 136, 7571-7574 (2014).
6. Thieno-pyrrole Fused BODIPY Intermediate as a Versatile Platform to Multi-functional NIR Agents. Samuel G. Awuah, Sushanta K. Das, Francis D'Souza, and Youngjae You, Chem. As. J., 8, 3123-3132 (2013).
5. Site-Specific and Far-Red-Light-Activatable Prodrug of Combretastatin A-4 Using Photo-Unclick Chemistry. Moses Bio, Pallavi Rajaputra, Gregory Nkepang, Samuel G. Awuah, Abugafar M. L. Hossion, and Youngjae You, J. Med. Chem., 56, 3969-3942 (2013).
4. Visible light controlled release of anticancer drug through double activation of pro-drug. Abugafar M. L. Hossion, Moses Bio, Gregory Nkepang, Samuel G. Awuah, and Youngjae You, ACS Med. Chem. Lett., 4, 124-127 (2013).
3. Boron Dipyrromethene (BODIPY)-Based Photosensitizers for Photodynamic Therapy. Samuel G. Awuah, and Youngjae You, RSC. Adv., 2, 11169-11183 (2012).
2. New Pyran dyes for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells. Samuel G. Awuah, Jason Polreis, Joshi Prakash, Qiquan Qiao, and Youngjae You, Photochem. Photobiol. A., 224, 116-122 (2011).
1. Singlet Oxygen Generation by Novel NIR BODIPY Dyes. Samuel G. Awuah, Jason Polreis, Vidya Biradar, and Youngjae You, Org. Lett., 13, 3884-3887 (2011).
Proudly powered by Weebly