Natural Chemistry Research Group

Interested in high-quality chemistry of plant secondary metabolites, especially tannins? Want to how their bioactivity can be used to lower greenhouse gas emissions? Want to know their evolutionary history and distribution in the plant kingdom? Hey, you share our passion for science!

Our research activities focus on the chemically most challenging group of plant polyphenolic compounds, i.e. tannins. We try to develop and utilize new chemical methods for the detection and characterization of even such tannins that have not been known to be produced by the plant cells. At the same time we create compound-specific analysis methods for various types of tannins to enable their accurate quantification from any plant species. All our research aims for better understanding of the significance of secondary metabolites in plants and for better utilization of the metabolites in various applications. All this needs detailed structure-activity analysis of the detected metabolites.