The Department of Inorganic Chemistry guarantees the studies in the fields of Inorganic Chemistry, Bioinorganic Chemistry, and Chemistry for Teaching in bachelor's, master's and doctoral study programmes.
As a part of our research, we focus on the preparation and study of new coordination compounds of transition metals, in particular, on the development of new compounds with medicinal application potential (e.g. substances with antitumour, anti-inflammatory or antidiabetic activity or contrast agents for diagnostic imaging methods) or compounds with interesting magnetic, optical or catalytic properties with industrial application potential (e.g. high-density storage media, various types of sensors).
Our teaching activites, as a guarantor of Chemistry for Teaching studies at the Faculty of Science of Palacký University, are also focused on increasing pupils' and students' interest in science and motivation to study science, co-organizing chemical Olympics and also on extracurricular chemical activities for primary and secondary school students.
News
New professor at our department
17. December 2025
The head of the Department of Inorganic Chemistry, doc. Ing. Radovan Herchel, Ph.D., was appointed professor on November 20, and on December 16, he received his appointment decree by the President of the Czech Republic. Congratulations !
Publication in Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers
02. December 2025
Publication entitled "Magnetically bistable Co(ii) and Fe(ii) complexes featuring pentyl-decorated pyridyl-benzimidazole ligands: role of isomerism and chirality" (authors: A. Šagátová, I. Nemec, J. Moncoľ, R. Herchel, R. Šebesta, P. Kisszékelyi, L. Ďurina, I. Šalitroš) has been published in the journal Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers.
This work reports magnetically bistable cobalt(II) and iron(II) complexes and demonstrates the critical influence of stereochemistry on their properties. The cobalt(II) compounds adopt distorted pentagonal bipyramidal geometries and display field‑induced slow relaxation of magnetization, whereas the iron(II) compounds are hexacoordinate and undergo thermal spin crossover above room temperature. Structural analyses confirmed optical activity in the chiral complexes, with enantiomeric relationships established by circular dichroism spectroscopy, while computational studies (DFT, QT‑AIM, CASSCF/NEVPT2, AILFT) provided detailed insights into electron density distributions, bonding energetics, and zero‑field splitting parameters. Magnetic investigations revealed distinct relaxation mechanisms in the cobalt systems, and most notably, the enantiomeric pair exhibits Raman and direct relaxation pathways with different dynamics arising from chirality‑dependent phonon coupling. This represents the first demonstration of enantiomer‑dependent slow relaxation of magnetization in cobalt(II) single‑molecule magnets, underscoring stereochemistry as a key design principle for future chiral magnetic materials.
Invitation to Conference for PhD students in the didactics of chemistry
24. November 2025
On 28 and 29 November the Department of Inorganic Chemistry will organize XXI. Annual International Seminar of PhD students in the didactics of chemistry and other natural sciences. More deails including a program can be found below.
Publication in Inorganic Chemistry
24. November 2025
Publication entitled "Pentagonal Bipyramidal First-Row Transition Metal Complexes with Macrocyclic Ligand Containing Two Pyridine‑N‑Oxide Pendant Arms: Structural, Magnetic, and Theoretical Studies" (authors: B. Drahoš, I. Šalitroš, R. Herchel) has been published in the journal Inorganic Chemistry.
In this work, a heptadentate 15-membered pyridine-based macrocyclic ligand containing two pyridine-N-oxide pendant arms was synthesized
together with its first-row transition metal complexes with the general formula [M(L)](ClO4)2·1DMF (MII = Mn (1), Fe (2), Co (3), and Ni (4); DMF = N,N’-dimethylformamide). X-ray crystal structures revealed axially compressed pentagonal bipyramidal geometry with a coordination number of 7 for complexes 1−3 or 5 + 2 for complex 4. Fe(II), Co(II), and Ni(II) complexes 2, 3, and 4 show pronounced magnetic anisotropy (D = 4.47, 30.10, −7.58 cm−1, respectively).The complex 3 showed a field-induced single-molecule magnet behavior described best by the combination of direct (DHm = 145 K−1s−1) and Raman (C = 0.58 K−ns−1 for n = 5.76) relaxation processes. Magneto-structural correlation for Fe(II)/Co(II)/Ni(II) complexes with L and previously studied structurally similar ligands revealed a significant impact of the coordination ability of the functional group in pendant arms on the final magnetic anisotropy (π-acceptors appear to be more suitable).
Student publication in Dalton Transactions
30. September 2025
Student publication entitled "Computational insight into manganese(ii) complexes comprising macrocyclic ligands for magnetic resonance imaging" (authors: R. Herchel, M. Pražáková, B. Drahoš ) has been published in the chemistry journal Dalton Transactions.
This article was motivated by the increased interest in MRI contrast agents based on manganese coordination compounds. Herein, 23 manganate complexes with macrocyclic ligands were selected and divided into five groups depending on the structural nature of the macrocyclic ligand. Using the DFT method and two solvation models (CPCM and SMD), stability constants (log KMnL) were calculated for all complexes as well as hyperfine splitting constants A(17O), zero-field splitting parameters (ZFS) and they were compared with experimental data. These results represent the first step in predicting the properties of interest, which could significantly facilitate the design of new MRI contrast agents.
