The Department of Chemistry held a master lecture on September 18 at 2:00 p.m. at Hsu Shou-Chlien International Conference Center, inviting Prof. Martin Kotora from our sister school Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, to present a talk titled: "Catalytic Activation of Small Molecules Towards Aromatic and Heteroaromatic Compounds." The lecture explored the impact of organic light-emitting materials on drug synthesis.

Prof. Martin Kotora, who holds a PhD from the Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, is currently a professor at both Charles University and the Czech Academy of Sciences and the holder of the Rudolf Lukeš Prize for achievements in organic chemistry from Czech Chemical Society. He was pleased to share his research findings with faculty and students at Tamkang University. Professor Jen-Chieh Hsieh from the Department of Chemistry mentioned that he had the opportunity to meet Prof. Kotora last year at a major international organic chemistry conference in Kyoto, Japan, and immediately extended an invitation, which Prof. Kotora gladly accepted.

Prof. Hsieh noted that the lecture content was related to drug manufacturing, a critical topic for future development. In addition to the lecture, Prof. Kotora also arranged visits to other academic institutions, including Academia Sinica. Chemistry Department Chair, Prof. Chih-Hsin Chen highlighted the importance of advancements in drug synthesis technology for improving public health, emphasizing the need for more accessible and cost-effective methods, and expressed gratitude for Prof. Kotora’s generous sharing of his expertise.

Charles University (Czech: Univerzita Karlova), founded in 1348, is the oldest university in Central Europe and the highest-ranking academic institution in the Czech Republic. It is a world-renowned comprehensive research university with over 50,000 students. The university is a member of leading academic alliances, including the Coimbra Group, Europaeum, and the Institutional Network of the Universities from the Capitals of Europe. 4 of its alumni have won the Nobel Prize, including the famous scientist Albert Einstein, who is one of its notable alumni.

Po-Han Yang, a second-year master's student who attended the lecture, remarked, "Prof. Martin's team works on small-molecule heterocyclic compounds, which are also a focus of our lab's research. These compounds have significant potential for development and application in industrial materials and pharmaceuticals. After hearing his presentation, I realized that the world of chemistry is not as straightforward as one might think. Outsiders might see it as simply mixing different substances and heating them to get a product, but for researchers, every attempt feels like a gamble. This lecture also gave me a deeper understanding of the immense time and effort required to publish a paper in a prestigious journal.

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