Department of Chemistry

Mathematics and Science Center,
Room 260
146 Library Drive
Rochester, MI 48309-4479
(location map)
(248) 370-2320
fax: 370-2321

Roman Dembinski

A headshot of Roman Dembinski.

Title: Professor 
Organic Chemistry
Office: 225 Mathematics and Science Center
Phone: (248) 370-2248
E-mail: [email protected]
Research Group

Degrees

Ph.D., Polish Academy of Sciences, Lodz

Research Interests

Professor Dembinski and his students are pursuing at present the synthesis of analogs of natural products, particularly coordination complexes of nucleosides and nucleotides. The abundance of various metals with different coordination numbers, geometry and redox potentials makes their combination with natural products a powerful tool for the construction of modified biomolecules. Novel methodologies for the synthesis of pharmaceutically active classes of heterocycles are being pursued. It is expected that such modified molecules may exhibit interesting biological properties. The ultimate goal of these studies is to synthesize materials that exhibit antiviral, anticancer, antisense properties, serve as bio-probes, and to develop new synthetic methodologies.

Representative Publications

Renata Kaczmarek, Ewa Radzikowska-Cieciura, Karolina Królewska-Golińska, Rafał Dolot, Kraig A. Wheeler, Ferman A. Chavez, Roman Dembinski, Synthesis and Determination of Anticancer Activity of Dicobalt Hexacarbonyl 2'-Deoxy-5-alkynylfuropyrimidines. ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters 202314, 962-969.

Sergey A. Denisov, Samuel Ward, Viacheslav Shcherbakov, Alexander D. Stark, Renata Kaczmarek, Ewa Radzikowska-Cieciura, Dipra Debnath, Taisiya Jacobs, Anil Kumar, Michael D. Sevilla, Pascal Pernot, Roman Dembinski, Mehran Mostafavi, Amitava Adhikary, Modulation of the Directionality of Hole Transfer Between the Base and the Sugar-phosphate Backbone in DNA with the Number of Sulfur Atoms in the Phosphate Group. Journal of Physical Chemistry B 2022, 125, 430-442. 

Dylan J. Twardy, Kraig A. Wheeler, Béla Török, and Roman Dembinski. Recent Advances in the Synthesis of Isoquinoline-Fused Benzimidazoles. Molecules 2022, 27, 2062.  [Special Issue Featured Reviews in Organic Chemistry]

Roman Dembinski, Yousif Gariaqoza, Renata Kaczmarek, Bicyclic 5-6 Systems - Two heteroatoms 1:1.  In Comprehensive Heterocyclic Chemistry IV, Elsevier; Al-Dabbagh, F. A. Vol. Ed.; 2022; Vol. 10, Ch. 10.06, pp 135-187.

Renata Kaczmarek, Dylan J. Twardy, Trevor L. Olson, Dariusz Korczyński, Graciela Andrei, Robert Snoeck, Rafał Dolot, Kraig A. Wheeler, Roman Dembinski, Extension of furopyrimidine nucleosides with 5-alkynyl substituent: Synthesis, high fluorescence, and antiviral effect in the absence of free ribose hydroxyl groups. Eur. J. Med. Chem. 2021, 209, 112884. (pages 1 10)

Renata Kaczmarek, Samuel Ward, Dipra Debnath, Taisiya Jacobs, Alexander D. Stark, Dariusz Korczyński, Anil Kumar, Michael D. Sevilla, Sergey A. Denisov, Viacheslav Shcherbakov, Pascal Pernot, Mehran Mostafavi, Roman Dembinski, Amitava Adhikary, One Way Traffic:  Base-to-backbone Hole Transfer in Nucleoside PhosphorodithioatesChem. Eur. J2020, 26, 9495-9505. [Front Cover]

Renata Kaczmarek, Dariusz Korczyński, James R. Green, and Roman Dembinski, Extension of the 5-alkynyluridine side chain via C–C-bond formation in modified organometallic nucleosides using the Nicholas reactionBeilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1–8.

Manisha Mishra, Dylan Twardy, Clifford Ellstrom, Kraig A. Wheeler, Roman Dembinski, and Béla Török, Catalyst-free ambient temperature synthesis of isoquinoline-fused benzimidazoles from 2-alkynylbenzaldehydes via alkyne hydroamination. Green Chem. 2019, 21, 99–108.

Renata Kaczmarek, Dariusz Korczyński, Karolina Królewska-Golińska, Kraig A. Wheeler, Ferman A. Chavez, and Roman Dembinski, Organometallic Nucleosides:  Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Substituted Dicobalt Hexacarbonyl 2'-Deoxy-5-oxopropynyluridines. Chemistry Open 2018, 7, 237–247.

Jonathon Young, Christian Schäfer, Agnes Solan, Anthony Baldrica, Miranda Belcher, Bilal Nişanci, Kraig A. Wheeler, Evan R. Trivedi, Béla Török, and Roman Dembinski, Regioselective “hydroamination” of alk-3-ynones with non-symmetrical o‑phenylenediamines. Synthesis of diversely substituted 3H-1,5-benzodiazepines via (Z)-3-amino-2-alkenones. RSCAdv. 2016, 6, 107081–107093.

Nicholas A. Bewick, Agata Arendt, Yan Li, Sławomir Szafert, Tadeusz Lis, Kraig A. Wheeler, Jonathon Young, and Roman Dembinski, Synthesis and Solid-State Structure of (4-Hydroxy-3,5-diiodophenyl)phosphine Oxides. Dimeric Motifs with the Assistance of O-H···O=P Hydrogen Bonds. Curr. Org. Chem. 2015, 19, 469474.

Agnes Solan, Bilal Nişanci, Miranda Belcher, Jonathon Young, Christian Schäfer, Kraig A. Wheeler, Béla Török, and Roman Dembinski, Catalyst-free chemo-/regio-/stereo-selective amination of alk-3-ynones. Synthesis of 1,5-benzodiazepines and 3-amino-2-alkenones. Green Chem. 2014, 16, 1120–1124.

Yan Li, Kraig A. Wheeler, and Roman Dembinski, Room Temperature Syntheses of Entirely Diverse Substituted beta-Fluorofurans. Org. Biomol. Chem.201210, 2395-2408.

Roman Dembinski, Yan Li, Deepthi Gundapuneni, Alicia Decker, Synthesis of beta-Halofurans. In Halogenated Heterocycles: Synthesis and Use; Iskra, J., Ed.; series Top. Heterocycl. Chem.; Springer: Heidelberg, 2012, vol 27, ch. 3, 65-100.

Dmitry A. Borkin, Mirela Puscau, Alena Carlson, Agnes Solan, Kraig A. Wheeler, Béla Török, and Roman Dembinski, Synthesis of diversely 1,3,5-substituted pyrazoles via 5-exo-dig cyclization. Org. Biomol. Chem. 2012, 10, 4505–4508. [Among top 9 most accessed articles 5/2012]

Yan Li, Kraig A. Wheeler, and Roman Dembinski, Electrophilic Cyclizations of 2-Fluoroalk-3-yn-1-ones: Room Temperature Synthesis of Diversely 2,5-Substituted 3,4 Fluorohalofurans. Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2011, 2767-2771.

Yan Li, Kraig A. Wheeler, and Roman Dembinski, Gold(I)-Catalyzed Cycloisomerization of 2-Fluoroalk-3-yn-1-ones: Synthesis of 2,5-Substituted 3-FluorofuranAdv. Synth. Catal. 2010352, 2761-2766.

Adam Sniady, Michael D. Sevilla, Srinivasarao Meneni, Tadeusz Lis, Slawomir Szafert, Deepthi Khanduri, John M. Finke, and Roman Dembinski, Synthesis and ESR studies of 2'-deoxyuridines tethered with alkynyl, rod-like linkagesChem. Eur. J. 200915, 7569-7577.

Przemyslaw Wyrebek, Adam Sniady, Nicholas Bewick, Yan Li, Agnieszka Mikus, Kraig A. Wheeler, and Roman Dembinski, Microwave-Assisted Zinc Chloride-Catalyzed Synthesis of Substituted Pyrroles from Homopropargylic Azides, Tetrahedron 200965, 1268-1275.

Adam Sniady, Marco S. Morreale, Kraig A. Wheeler, and Roman Dembinski, Room Temperature Electrophilic 5-Endo-digChlorocyclization of Alk-3-yn-1-ones with the use of Pool Sanitizer: Synthesis of 3-Chlorofurans and 5-Chlorofuropyrimidine NucleosidesEur. J. Org. Chem. 20083449-3452. Among top 8 most accessed articles 6/2008.

Adam Sniady, Audrey Durham, Marco S. Morreale, Andrzej Marcinek, Slawomir Szafert, Tadeusz Lis, Krystyna R. Brzezinska, Takanori Iwasaki, Takashi Ohshima, Kazushi Mashima, and Roman Dembinski, Zinc-Catalyzed Cycloisomerizations. Synthesis of Substituted Furans and Furopyrimidine NucleosidesJ. Org. Chem. 200873, 5881-5889.

Craig D. Sergeant, Ingo Ott, Adam Sniady, Srinivasarao Meneni, Ronald Gust, Arnold L. Rheingold, and Roman Dembinski, Metallo-Nucleosides: Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Hexacarbonyl Dicobalt 5-Alkynyl-2'-DeoxyuridinesOrg. Biomol. Chem. 20086, 73-80.

Roman Dembinski, Pablo Espinet, Sergio Lentijo, Marcin W. Markowicz, Jose M. Martín-Alvarez, Arnold L. Rheingold, Daniel J. Schmidt, and Adam Sniady, Fluorophobic effect in metallomesogens. The synthesis and mesomorphism of Ag, Au, Cu, Fe, Pd, and Pt fluorous isocyanide complexesEur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2008, 1565-1572.

Adam Sniady, Audrey Durham, Marco S. Morreale, Kraig A. Wheeler, and Roman Dembinski, Room Temperature Zinc Chloride-Catalyzed Cycloisomerization of Alk-3-yn-1-ones: Synthesis of Substituted FuransOrg. Lett. 20079, 1175-1178.

Srinivasarao Meneni, Ingo Ott, Craig D. Sergeant, Adam Sniady, Ronald Gust, and Roman Dembinski, 5-Alkynyl-2'-Deoxyuridines: Chromatography-Free Synthesis and Cytotoxicity Evaluation Against Human Breast Cancer Cells, Bioorg. Med. Chem. 200715, 3082-3088.

Adam Sniady, Marco S. Morreale, and Roman Dembinski, Electrophilic cyclization with N-Iodosuccinimide: Preparation of 5-(4-bromophenyl)-3-iodo-2-(4-methylphenyl)furanOrg. Synth. 200784, 199-208.

Zoltán Kaleta, Brian T. Makowski, Tibor Soós, and Roman Dembinski, Thionation using Fluorous Lawesson’s ReagentOrg. Lett. 20068, 1625-1628.

Maria Angeles Ubeda and Roman Dembinski, Fluorous Compounds and Their Role in Separation ChemistryJ. Chem. Educ. 200683, 84-92.

Adam Sniady, Kraig A. Wheeler, and Roman Dembinski, 5-Endo-dig Electrophilic Cyclization of 1,4-Disubstituted But-3-yn-1-ones: Regiocontrolled Synthesis of 3-Bromo- and 3-Iodo-2,5-Disubstituted FuransOrg. Lett. 2005, 7, 1769-1772.

Roman Dembinski, Recent Advances in the Mitsunobu Reaction: Modified Reagents and the Quest for Chromatography-Free SeparationEur. J. Org. Chem. 2004, 2763-2772. Most accessed article in 2004.

Roman Dembinski, Approaches to Fluorous Mitsunobu Reaction, In Handbook of Fluorous Chemistry, Wiley-VCH: Weinheim, 2004, Chapter 10.3, pp 190-202.

Marcin W. Markowicz and Roman Dembinski, Fluorous Coupling Reagents: Application of 2-Chloro-4,6-bis[(heptadecafluoronyl)oxy]-1,3,5-triazine in Peptide SynthesisSynthesis 2004, 80-86.

Meneni Srinivasa Rao, Noor Esho, Craig Sergeant, and Roman Dembinski, 5-Endo-dig Electrophilic Cyclization of alpha -Alkynyl Carbonyl Compounds: Synthesis of Novel Bicyclic 5-Iodo- and 5-Bromofurano Pyrimidine NucleosidesJ. Org. Chem. 200368, 6788-6790.

Publicity

Chemistry—A European Journal

Angewandte Chemie Spotlight on Sister Journal
Meet Our Editorial Board - Current Organic Chemistry
3-Fluorofurans (Synfacts 2011) 
Fun with Fluorinated Furans 
Synform (March 2009) 
Chlorofurans (Synfact of the Month) 
Zinc Chloride Catalysis (Synfacts 2008) 
Most Accessed Articles (2007) 
Zinc Chloride Catalyzed Synthesis of Furans (www.organic-chemistry.org) 
Write Stuff (C&EN, August 13, 2007) 
Zinc Chloride Catalysis (Synfacts 2007) 
Fluorous Lawesson's Reagent (www.organic-chemistry.org) 
Featured Molecules in J.Chem. Educ. 
Synthesis of 3-Halofurans (www.organic-chemistry.org) 
Recent Advances in the Mitsunobu Reaction (the most often downloaded Eur. J. Org. Chem. article) 
Fluorous Chlorotriazine ( commercialized)
Fluorous Acyl Donor for Mitsunobu Reaction (the covette of the Chem. Eur. J. article) 
Science Editor's Choice