Head of the group: Assoc. Prof. Agnieszka Szumna, D.Sc. e-mail: [email protected] Ph.D., 2001, Institute of Organic Chemistry PAS, Warsaw, Poland Post-doc, University of Missouri (MU), Columbia, USA, 2001/2003, under supervision of prof. Jerry L. Atwood D.Sc., 2010, Institute of Organic Chemistry PAS, Warsaw, Poland. Awards: 1995 Award for the outstanding master thesis, University of Warsaw 2001 Award for the outstanding Ph.D. thesis, Institute of Organic Chemistry PAS. 2011 Prime Minister Award for Outstanding Habilitation

Research focuses on various aspects of molecular recognition with the special attention to chiral recognition. We aim at synthesis of new cavitand and capsule-type molecules capable of recognizing chiral molecules and acting as molecular reaction vessels for asymmetric reactions. The important part of our work involves structure elucidation and characterization of the intermolecular non-covalent interactions using X-Ray, various NMR techniques (NOESY, EXSY) and circular dichroism. The current project is focused on synthesis and recognition properties of compounds that are inherently chiral (e.g. amino acid/peptide derivatives of resorcin[4]arenes).