Jean-Marie Lehn Prize for Chemistry

We are pleased to announce that Karolína Salvadori from our Faculty of Chemical Engineering at the University of Chemical Technology in Prague has won the prestigious Jean-Marie Lehn Prize for Chemistry.

The award ceremony of the French Embassy's Scientific Awards, which celebrated its 30th anniversary this year, took place on 28 June 2024 in Prague. These prizes are intended for PhD students or postdoctoral fellows who have recently defended their dissertation. The awards cover the fields of chemistry, medicine, pharmacy, computer science and informatics, nuclear research, environment and climate, and social sciences and humanities. The oldest of these awards is the Jean-Marie Lehn Prize for Chemistry, which has been recognising outstanding research work in chemistry by Czech students during their PhD studies since 1994, when it was established by Jean-Marie Lehn, Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry in 1987.

Karolína Salvadori was awarded for her PhD thesis "Study of Building Blocks Suitable for Preparation of Functional Receptor Materials for Sensorics", supervised by Professor Pavel Matějka. Karolína's research focuses on the preparation and study of novel receptor materials and their building blocks. These materials have urea binding sites in their structure, which are suitable for anion complexation. In addition to synthesis, her work also includes a section dedicated to the study of the physicochemical properties of the prepared molecules. To this end, she uses a range of molecular spectroscopy and electrochemistry techniques. Particular attention is paid to the evaluation of binding properties. A thorough investigation of the complexation properties provides the data necessary to understand the regularities of building block behaviour in the presence of anions, and also enables the prediction of the complexation behaviour of the final receptor materials. Receptor materials are prepared by attaching binding units to molecular supports (mainly dendrimers and macrocycles from the calixarene group); alternatively, receptor units are designed so that they can be used to modify electrode surfaces. The study of recycling of the prepared systems, for example by nanofiltration, is also an integral part of the project. 

Karolína told us about her work and her love for chemistry: "I worked on the development simultaneously at the Institute of Physical Chemistry, Institute of Chemical Processes (Bioorganic Chemistry and Biomaterials Group) and the J. Heyrovsky Institute of Physical Chemistry (Molecular Electrochemistry and Catalysis Department), which allowed me to combine a number of different approaches. If I should summarize the work very briefly - it is mainly focused on the development of new anion receptors and their building units. Thus, the work includes both a synthetic part and a study of properties. I study the properties using a number of techniques, both spectroscopic and electrochemical. I have been involved in chemistry since high school, and in my last year of high school I had the opportunity to attend the Supramolecular Chemistry group at Masaryk University in Brno. Here, under the guidance of Professor Vladimír Šindelář and Dr. Tomáš Fiala, I was introduced to the chemistry that became my destiny - the chemistry of anion receptors. So I decided to pursue supramolecular chemistry during my studies at university. I first graduated in Chemistry and did my bachelor thesis at the Department of Organic Chemistry. Since I started my Master's studies, I was taken in by Professor Matějka, who together with my advisors (Dr. Petra Cuřínová and Professor Jiří Ludvík) has accompanied me to this day and helped me to further develop my topic. Gradually, we moved from very simple molecules to the study of more complex systems. Moreover, thanks to the combination of a number of approaches, one never really gets bored and new research challenges and goals are constantly opening up."

From left: the French Ambassador to the Czech Republic Stéphane Crouzat, the Chairman of the NF IOCB Tech Board Barbara Eignerová, Helena Hrušková (CSCH Special Prize), Petr Macháč (3rd Prize), David Dunlop (2nd Prize), Karolína Salvadori (1st Prize), the President of the CSCH Prof. Tomáš Navrátil and Prof. Jean-Marie Lehn. (Photo: © Ondřej Besperát)