During 1976-1983, The Department of Chemistry was the headquarter for UNESCO Regional Network for the Chemistry of Natural Products in Southeast Asia. That is when the first research unit, Natural Products Research Unit (NPRU), was established. A visit by Professor Jean Marie Lehn, a Nobel Laureate from Louis Pasteur University, as a plenary lecturer initiated a strong collaboration between Chulalongkorn University and Louis Pasteur University in France and led to an exchange program for students and faculties. Many Ph.D. graduates from Louis Pasteur University have later become faculty members of the department. As a consequence of this collaboration, another prominent research unit named Supramolecular Chemistry Research Unit (SCRU) was established. SCRU, in fact, received Science and Technology Award from the Thailand Toray Science Foundation in 2001.