Chiroptical Methods

The Group of chiroptical methods is a joint laboratory of the Department of Analytical Chemistry and the Department of Physics and Measurements of the UCT Prague. The research group develops and utilizes methods of chiroptical spectroscopy, namely vibrational circular dichroism - VCD, electronic circular dichroism - ECD, fluorescence-detected circular dichroism - FDCD and Raman optical activity - ROA.

These methods provide unique structural information about chiral molecules and molecular systems, including biofluids (blood plasma, serum). We also employ methods of vibrational spectroscopy (infrared absorption and Raman spectroscopy), quantum-chemical ab initio calculations and statistical methods. The unique equipment of the laboratory allows for a complex structural analysis without being limited by molecular weight.

In particular, we focus on:

• The development of new methods for the clinical diagnosis of cancer (carcinoma of the pancreas, liver, colon), neurodegeneration (Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia) and metabolic diseases (type I and II diabetes) based on blood plasma or tissue analysis.
• The development of optical microprobes for in vivo diagnosis of cancer (e.g. lung cancer) via Raman spectroscopy.
• Structural studies of small- and medium-sized chiral molecules (absolute configuration and enantiomeric excess), biopolymers (conformational and binding studies of peptides, proteins, nucleic acids), supramolecular self-assembly products (associations of nucleobases and their metal complexes), and biological interaction-inspired systems (e.g. bioactive bile complexes).
• The study of the optical activity of drugs, counterfeit medicines and cosmetic products leading to their detection and identification.

In addition, we closely cooperate with leading academic institutions (First Faculty of Medicine of the Charles University, Third Faculty of Medicine of the Charles University, Military University Hospital Prague, General University Hospital in Prague, Royal Vinohrady Teaching Hospital, Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the CAS) and industrial companies (e.g. Teva, Zentiva). Many of these cooperations are established within the frame of joint grant projects supported by the Czech Science Foundation, Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic etc.

Head:

Prof. Vladimír Setnička

Memebers:

Alla Synytsya, Ph.D.

Prof. Dr. Marie Urbanová (ext.)

Prof. Dr. Petr Bouř, (ext.)

Lucie Habartová, Ph.D.

Ing. František Králík, Ph.D.

PhD students

Lucie Kocourková, M.Sc. (VS)

Patrik Fagan, M.Sc. (VS)

Markéta Fousková, M.Sc. (VS)

Kateřina Hrubešová, M.Sc. (VS)

Lenka Michálková. M.Sc. (VS)

Dita Spálovská, M.Sc. (VS)

Jiří Průša, M.Sc. (PB)

Andrii Kurochka, M.Sc. (PB)

Kristýna Dobšíková, M.Sc.(VS)

Ondřej Vrtělka, M.Sc.(VS)

Jan Vališ, M.Sc. (VS)

Nina Habanová, M.Sc. (PB)

Adam Sklenář, M.Sc. (PB)

Jiří Zdráhala, M.Sc. (PB)