Department of Organic and Nuclear Chemistry of Faculty of Science of Charles University in Prag

Abstract

The department of organic chemistry has always been at the forefront of research since its establishment in 1905 in a newly constructed building at Albertov. During the span of more than 100 years a number of leading Czech scientist in the area of organic chemistry have spent there their whole careers (e.g. Raýman, Černý, Pacák, Staněk) or were to bigger or lesser extent associated with it (e.g. Šorm, Wichterle, etc.). The current research endeavors in the department encompass several areas: chemistry of natural products (saccharides, polysaccharides, and their transformations), physical organic chemistry (reaction mechanism, quantum chemistry), macro- and supramolecular chemistry (host-guest chemistry, self-assembly), molecular electronics (molecular wires and nets), catalysis (transition metal catalyzed transformations, organocatalysis), organic synthesis (synthesis of natural products and biologically active compounds), phytoremediation (degradation of organic compounds in Nature), synthesis of isotopically labeled compounds for medicinal purposes, and analysis of organic compounds (mass spectrometry, NMR, IR, etc,). Most of the above mentioned research activities are carried out in cooperation with domestic as well as foreign universities or research institutions.