All Publications – The Wuest Lab

158Topology-Aware Generation and Activity-Based Filtering: A Computational-Experimental Framework for Data-Scarce Quaternary Ammonium Compound Discovery

Ghaemi, S.; Consylman, A.; Pan, B.; Wu, A.; Petersen, A.; Chang, G.; McDonough, D.; Forman, M.; Bezold, E.L.; Wuest, W.M.*; Shehu, A.*; Zhao, L.*; Minbiole, K.P.C.*

J. Chem. Inf. Model. 2026, ASAP Article

156Triscationic Bolaamphiphilic QACs – Optimizing Antibacterial Therapeutic Indices

Asante, J.Y.D.; Bezold, E.L.; Wuest, W.M.*; Minbiole, K.P.C.*

Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2025, 130441

154The Versatile Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of All-Alkyl Biscationic Quaternary Phosphonium Compounds: Atom-Economical and Potent Disinfectants

McDonough, D.; Bezold, E.L.; Wuest, W.M.*; Minbiole, K.P.C.*

RSC Med. Chem. 2025, Advance Article

152An Instructible Chemist-AI Alignment Framework for Generating Quaternary Ammonium Compound Structures

Pan, B.; Ghaemi, S.; Consylman, A.J.; Zihao, Z.; Petersen, A.; Wu, A.; Chang, G.; McDonough, D.; Forman, M.A.; Bezold, E.L.; Wuest, W.M.; Minbiole, K.; Zhao, L.; Shehu, A.

Proceedings of the 31st ACM SIGKDD Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining V.2 (KDD ’25) 2025, 4740-4750

148Bisphosphonium Amphiphiles Yield Insights into Gram-Negative Bacterial Disinfectant Resistance and Cell Membrane Interactions

Bezold, E.L.^#; Young, A.L.E.^#; Jaworski, C.J.; Minbiole, K.P.C.; Sanchez, C.A.*; Wuest, W.M.*

ACS Omega 2025, 10 (23), 25076-25083

141Resorcinol-based Bolaamphiphilic Quaternary Ammonium Compounds

Asante, J.Y.D.; Casey, C.M.; Bezold, E.L.; Fernando, A.; McDonough, D.; Wuest, W.M.*; Minbiole, K.P.C.*

ChemMedChem 2025, 20 (8), e202400932

131Bushy-Tailed QACs: The Development of Multicationic Quaternary Ammonium Compounds with a High Degree of Alkyl Chain Substitution

Toles, Z.E.A.; Thierer, L.M.; Wu, A.; Bezold, E.L.; Rachii, D.; Sanchez, C.A.; Vargas-Cuebas, G.G.; Keller, T.M.; Carroll, P.J.; Wuest, W.M.*; Minbiole, K.P.C.*

ChemMedChem 2024, 19 (19), e202400301

130Exploring the Correlation of Dynamic Surface Tension with Antimicrobial Activities of Quaternary Ammonium-Based Disinfectants

Vargas-Cuebas, G.G.; Sanchez, C.A.; Brayton, S.R.; Nikoloff, A.; Masters, R.; Minbiole, K.P.C.*; Wuest, W.M.*

ChemMedChem 2024, 19 (16), e202400262

129Chimeric Amphiphilic Disinfectants: Quaternary Ammonium/Quaternary Phosphonium Hybrid Structures

Leatherbury, M.S.; Thierer, L.M.; Sanchez, C.A.; Vargas-Cuebas, G.G.; Petersen, A.A.; Amoo, L.E.; Bezold, E.L.; Washington, K.C.; Mistrot, M.B.; Zdilla, M.J.; Wuest, W.M.*; Minbiole, K.P.C.*

ChemMedChem 2024, 19 (11), e202300718

117Soft QPCs: Biscationic Quaternary Phosphonium Compounds as Soft Antimicrobial Agents

Brayton, S.R.; Toles, Z.E.A.; Sanchez, C.A.; Michaud, M.E.; Thierer, L.M.; Keller, T.M.; Risener, C.J.; Quave, C.L.; Wuest, W.M.*; Minbiole, K.P.C.*

ACS Infect. Dis. 2023, 9 (4), 943-951

114Double BAC and Triple BAC: A Systematic Analysis of the Disinfectant Properties of Multicationic Derivatives of Benzalkonium Chloride (BAC)

Toles, Z.E.A.; Wu, A.; Sanchez, C.A.; Michaud, M.E.; Thierer, L.M.; Wuest, W.M.*; Minbiole, K.P.C.*

ChemMedChem 2023, 18 (10), e202300018

113Atom Economical QPCs: Phenyl-Free Biscationic Quaternary Phosphonium Compounds as Potent Disinfectants

Thierer, L.M.; Peterson, A.A.; Michaud, M.E.; Sanchez, C.A.; Brayton, S.R.; Wuest, W.M.*; Minbiole, K.P.C.*

ACS Infect. Dis. 2023, 9 (3), 609-616

112Generation and Characterization of Quaternary Ammonium Compounds via Deep Learning

Wang, Y.; Ghaemi, S.; Ding, A.; Du, Y.; Pan, B.; Qin, M.; Lin, X.; Petersen, A.A.; Leitgeb, A.; Alkhalifa, S.; Minbiole, K.; Wuest, W.; Zhao, L.*; Shehu, A.*

2022 IEEE International Conference on Bioinformatics and Biomedicine (BIBM), Las Vegas, NV, USA, 2022, pp. 3512-3519

111Property-Controllable Generation of Quaternary Ammonium Compounds

Pan, B.^#; Wang, Y.^#; Lin, X.^#; Qin, M.^#; Du, Y.; Ghaemi, S.; Ding, A.; Wang, S.; Alkhalifa, S.; Minbiole, K.; Wuest, W.M.; Petersen, A.; Leitgeb, A.; Shehu, A.*; Zhao, L.*

IEEE International Conference on Bioinformatics and Biomedicine (BIBM) Workshops: Computational Structural Biology Workshop (CSBW), 2022-06-08

107Quaternary Phosphonium Compound Unveiled as a Potent Disinfectant against Highly Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii Clinical Isolates

Michaud, M.E.; Allen, R.A.; Morrison-Lewis, K.R.; Sanchez, C.A.; Minbiole, K.P.C.*; Post, S.J.*; Wuest, W.M.*

ACS Infect. Dis. 2022, 8 (11), 2307-2314

104Rigidity-Activity Relationships of bisQPC Scaffolds against Pathogenic Bacteria

Spahr, A.C.; Michaud, M.E.; Amoo, L.E.; Sanchez, C.A.; Hogue, C.E.; Thierer, L.M.; Gau, M.R.; Wuest, W.M.*; Minbiole, K.P.C.*

ChemMedChem 2022, 17 (14), e202200224

102Quaternary Phosphonium Compounds: An Examination of Non-Nitrogenous Cationic Amphiphiles That Evade Disinfectant Resistance

Sommers, K.J.^#; Michaud, M.E.^#; Hogue, C.E.; Scharnow, A.M.; Amoo, L.E.; Peterson, A.A.; Carden, R.G.; Minbiole, K.P.C.*; Wuest, W.M.*

ACS Infect. Dis. 2022, 8 (2), 387-397

(Highlighted in Chemical and Engineering News)

95Trivalent Sulfonium Compounds (TSCs): Tetrahydrothiophene-based Amphiphiles Exhibit Similar Antimicrobial Activity to Analogous Ammonium-based Amphiphiles

Feliciano, J.A.; Leitgeb, A.J.; Schrank, C.L.; Allen, R.A.; Minbiole, K.P.C.; Wuest, W.M.*; Carden, R.G.*

Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2021, 37, 127809

91Metallocene QACs: The Incorporation of Ferrocene Moieties into monoQAC and bisQAC Structures

Sommers, K.J.; Bentley, B.S.; Carden, R.G.; Post, S.J.; Allen, R.A.; Kontos, R.C.; Black, J.W.; Wuest, W.M.*; Minbiole, K.P.C.*

ChemMedChem 2020, 16 (3), 467-471

73Further Investigations into Rigidity-Activity Relationships in BisQAC Amphiphilic Antiseptics

Leitgeb, A.J.; Feliciano, J.A.; Sanchez, H.A.; Allen, R.A.; Morrison, K.R.; Sommers, K.J.; Carden, R.G.; Wuest, W.M.*; Minbiole, K.P.C.*

ChemMedChem 2020, 15 (8), 667-670

(Selected for Cover Art)

53An Investigation into Rigidity-Activity Relationships in BisQAC Amphiphilic Antiseptics

Kontos, R.C.; Schallenhammer, S.A.; Bentley, B.S.; Morrison, K.R.; Feliciano, J.A.; Tasca, J.A.; Kaplan, A.R.; Bezpalko, M.W.; Kassel, W.S.; Wuest, W.M.*; Minbiole, K.P.C.*

ChemMedChem 2019, 14 (1), 83-87

40Hybrid BisQACs: Potent Biscationic Quaternary Ammonium Compounds Merging the Structures of Two Commercial Antiseptics

Schallenhammer, S.A.; Duggan, S.M.; Morrison, K.R.; Bentley, B.S.; Wuest, W.M.*; Minbiole, K.P.C.*

ChemMedChem 2017, 12 (23), 1931-1934

34Ester- and Amide-containing multiQACs: Exploring Multicationic Soft Antimicrobial Agents

Allen, R.A.; Jennings, M.C.; Mitchell, M.A.; Al-Khalifa, S.E.; Wuest, W.M.*; Minbiole, K.P.C.*

Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2017, 27 (10), 2107-2112

32The Development of Next-Generation Pyridinium-Based multiQAC Antiseptics

Al-Khalifa, S.E.; Jennings, M.C.; Wuest, W.M.*; Minbiole, K.P.C.*

ChemMedChem 2016, 12 (4), 280-283

31From Antimicrobial Activity to Mechanism of Resistance: The Multifaceted Role of Simple Quaternary Ammonium Compounds in Bacterial Eradication

Minbiole, K.P.C.*; Jennings, M.C.; Ator, L.E.; Black, J.W.; Grenier, M.C.; LaDow, J.E.; Caran, K.L.; Seifert, K.; Wuest, W.M.*

Tetrahedron 2016, 72 (25), 3559-3566

29Building a Better Quaternary Ammonium Compound (QAC): Branched Tetracationic Antiseptic Amphiphiles

Forman, M.E.; Jennings, M.C.; Wuest, W.M.*; Minbiole, K.P.C.*

ChemMedChem 2016, 11 (13), 1401-1405

(Selected for Cover Art)

26Structure-Resistance Relationships: Interrogating Antiseptic Resistance in Bacteria with Multicationic Quaternary Ammonium Dyes

Forman, M.E.; Fletcher, M.H.; Jennings, M.C.; Duggan, S.M.; Minbiole, K.P.C.*; Wuest, W.M.*

ChemMedChem 2016, 11 (9), 958-962

22Natural Product-Derived Quaternary Ammonium Compounds with Potent Antimicrobial Activity

Joyce, M.D.; Jennings, M.C.; Santiago, C.N.; Fletcher, M.H.; Wuest, W.M.*; Minbiole, K.P.C.*

J. Antibiotics 2016, 69, 344-347

(Invited Paper in Honor of Amos B. Smith, III)

21Scaffold-Hopping of Multicationic Amphiphiles Yields Three New Classes of Antimicrobials

Mitchell, M.A.; Iannetta, A.A.; Jennings, M.C.; Fletcher, M.H.; Wuest, W.M.*; Minbiole, K.P.C.*

ChemBioChem 2015, 16 (16), 2299-2303

(Highlighted as a Very Important Paper)

19Bioorganic Investigation of Multicationic Antimicrobials to Combat QAC-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Jennings, M.C.; Buttaro, B.A.; Minbiole, K.P.C.; Wuest, W.M.*

ACS Infect. Dis. 2015, 1 (7), 304-309

16The Antimicrobial Activity of Mono-, Bis-, Tris-, and Tetracationic Amphiphiles Derived from Simple Polyamine Platforms

Paniak, T.J.; Jennings, M.C.; Shanahan, P.C.; Joyce, M.D.; Santiago, C.N.; Wuest, W.M.^*; Minbiole, K.P.C.^*

Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2014, 24 (24), 5824-5828

Publications