News at the Department of Organic Chemistry

What's coming up:

  • The first PhD seminar will be held on the 15th of November at 14:00 in the CH2 lecture hall. The information can be found in the section: Department Seminar of PhD Students

Past events:

  • On Thursday 17.10.2024 from 13:00 to 17:00 our department organized an Open Day for students of the chemistry section and others interested in studying organic chemistry.
  • The Chemistry Section of the Faculty of Science hosted the 20th Blue Danube Symposium on Heterocycles in Chemistry 2024 on 25-28 August. Details can be found here.
  • On Friday, June 14, students and staff of the Department of Organic Chemistry took a trip to Černolice Rocks and Řevnické brewery. The photo shows the participants of the trip under the Korunka lookout tower.

  • On Thursday, June 6, a mini-conference of PhD students of the Department of Organic Chemistry took place on the roof of the Chemistry Section Library.

 

Research

The Department of Organic Chemistry covers a broad area of research in organic chemistry:

History of the Department of Organic Chemistry

The history of organic chemistry as an independent discipline at Charles University began to be written at the end of the 19th century. The first important figure who dealt exclusively with organic chemistry was prof. PhDr. Bohuslav Raýman. Prof. Raýman was involved in determining the structure of one of the then newly isolated carbohydrates and also proposed the name rhamnosa, which is still used today. The Institute of Organic Chemistry was founded in 1923 during the era of Raýman's successor, Prof. PhDr. and PhMr. František Plzák. In the post-war period, it would be appropriate to mention Professors Jaroslav Stáňek, Josef Pacák and Miloslav Černý, who developed the chemistry of carbohydrates and created a world-renowned workplace here. The first synthesis of 2-deoxy-2-fluoroglucose, which is used as a radiopharmaceutical in positron emission tomography (PET), originated in their laboratory. Their predecessors in the field of carbohydrate chemistry were successfully followed by their students, such as Prof. Trnka. In this respect, it is also worth mentioning Professors Vystrčil and Klinot, who devoted their research to the field of natural substances and especially to triterpenoid compounds.

During the last 30 years, the Department of Organic Chemistry has undergone quite extensive changes, including personnel changes, which have led to the focus of the Department's research in many new directions in the field of organic chemistry. These directions are research areas such as targeted drug delivery (Ing. Ondřej Baszczyňski, Ph.D.), cyclodextrins and supramolecular chemistry (Assoc. RNDr. Jindřich Jindřich, CSc.), bioorganic and medicinal chemistry of nucleic acids (prof. Ing. Michal Hocek, CSc., DSc.), functionalization of organic compounds (Assoc. Mgr. Radim Hrdina, Ph.D.), catalysis for organic synthesis (prof. RNDr. Martin Kotora, CSc), chemistry of natural substances and development of organometallic compounds for various applications (Dr. Lukáš Rýček, M.Sc.), organic synthesis of natural compounds (PharmDr. Eliška Matoušová, Ph.D.), biotransformation and chemical biology (Assoc. RNDr. Jiří Míšek, Ph.D.), organic catalysis and electrochemistry (Ing. Rafael Navrátil, Ph.D.), environmental and nuclear chemistry (Assoc. Ing. Stanislav Smrček, CSc.) and last but not least organocatalysis in asymmetric synthesis (prof. RNDr. Jan Veselý, Ph.D.).

 

Significant achievements

The quality of staff and research is evidenced not only by publications in top journals and obtaining grant support from both domestic and foreign sources, but also by the awards received by both members of the department and students for their activity in the field of science. Among the many, the following can be mentioned:

  • 2024 - Dr. Rýček and dr. Matoušová received international grant funds from the InterregCE programme (GreenChemForCE).
  • 2024 - Junior Star grant, GAČR (dr. Navrátil)
  • 2019 - Experientia Foundation start-up grant (dr. Baszczyňski)
  • 2013 - Rudolf Lukes Prize of the CSCH, for results of high international significance (prof. Kotora)
  • Members of the Department of Organic Chemistry are also awarded the Alfred Bader Prize: dr. Rýček (2020), dr. Slanina (2019), prof. Veselý (2011), prof. Hocek (1999)

In the past few years, grant funds have been awarded to Dr. Matoušová, Dr. Míšek and Dr. Rýček within the university's PRIMUS programme. It is also important to mention that a former member of the Department, Prof. Roithová, was a successful recipient of two ERC grants. Dr. Rýček and Dr. Matoušová also received international grant funding from the InterregCE programme (GreenChemForCE). Prof. Veselý is a member of the Jan Ámos Komenský Operational Programme (OP JAK).