Home – Home – Jornals – Chemistry for Sustainable Development 2018 number 3

The paper presents the long-term investigation of biogeochemical regularities of the ingress, distribution, and accumulation of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the basin of Lake Baikal and the Selenga River on the territory of Russia and Mongolia. Academician V. A. Koptyug became the initiator and head of these works since 1994. The research was co-carried out by staff members of the Novosibirsk Institute of Organic Chemistry and the Baikal Institute of Nature Management SB RAS within Russian and international expeditions. The GC/MS data of the qualitative and quantitative composition of POPs in environment objects and biota may be used for regional ecological-geochemical and ecological-hygienic assessments of the environmental state, effective identification of sources and areas of anthropogenic environmental impact strengthening and weakening, design of bioaccumulative POPs models for aquatic ecosystems and environmental risk assessment.

Two main groups of environmental problems of the Kuzbass Coal Basin are discussed, the first group being the study of the current state of the pollution and its monitoring, and the second group scientific research and technologies for the pollution abatement. The substantiation and development of methods, approaches, and instruments providing complex and systematic determination of toxic substances having an adverse effect on the environment during extraction and processing of coals are described. The presence of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and its metabolites in the environment objects are studied in detail. The contents of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in coals of various metamorphism are determined by the use of modern analytical methods. The composition of solid wastes of extraction and processing of coals and the distribution of mobile and water-soluble elements and organic substances in them are studied. The problem of toxic finely dispersed coal materials formed upon the extraction, transportation, enrichment, and processing of coals is examined. The composition of polluting gas emissions released from coal seams into the atmosphere is studied. For the solution of the problems of pollutants abatement a number of catalytic processes are proposed: among them catalytic combustion of fuels including low-rank coals in a fluidized catalyst bed in catalytic heat generators for the decrease of emissions of toxic nitrogen oxides and products of incomplete combustion; and technologies based on the use of monolithic catalysts for the neutralization of nitrogen oxides emissions from fuel burning plants. Main results of research of a wide number of chemical reactions of coal seam methane processing into value-added products are given: methane dehydroaromatization, oxidative coupling of methane, methane autothermal reforming and synthesis of carbon nanofibers and hydrogen from methane. Results of the study of formation of methane hydrates and approaches to their utilization are briefly discussed. The review of works devoted to the creation and study of carbon sorbents prepared from Kuzbass coals and intended for the solution of environmental problems of the Kuzbass region is presented.

The main problem of exploitation of deposits with hard-to-recover reserves, including deposits of high-viscosity oil, is a low oil recovery factor (ORF) in the development of the basic impact - injection of the displacing agent and heat transfer agent. The review examines trends and prospects of physicochemical methods for enhanced oil recovery of heavy, high-viscosity oil fields developed on natural conditions and in combination with thermal methods. The main sources of current information are the materials of world congresses and annual international conferences on the problems of heavy oil production in countries that have significant geological reserves of heavy oils and bitumen. As one of the solutions to this problem, the creation and application of physicochemical methods of enhanced oil recovery based on nanoheterogeneous chemically evolved systems based on surfactants, both in the form of "cold" technologies and in conjunction with steam-thermal action on the formation are promising. The prospects for the concept of chemically evolving oil-displacing systems are confirmed by the results of field tests of technologies for enhanced oil recovery, created in the Institute of Petroleum Chemistry SB RAS.

To create innovative complex seed protectants, a mechanochemical method for obtaining intermolecular supramolecular complexes of tebuconazole (TBC) was used. The use of polysaccharide arabinogalactan, glycyrrhizic acid and its disodium salt, as well as a dry extract of licorice root as substances forming supramolecular systems, including TBC molecules in their structure, made it possible to obtain preparations of seed disinfectants with improved ecological and biological properties. The obtained TBC-based compositions showed high efficacy against pathogenic microflora in laboratory and field conditions in the treatment of spring wheat and barley seeds, in suppression of the development of ordinary root rot, the absence of a retardant effect and a positive effect on the productivity of these crops. In addition, the compositions can reduce the rate of discharge of TBC up to 2 times.

The paper presents the results of studies of natural gas hydrates in water-in-oil and water-in-asphaltene-resin-paraffin deposits (ARPD) emulsions conducted in the laboratory of technogenic gas hydrates of the Institute of Oil and Gas Problems, SB RAS. The kinetic aspects of the hydrate formation process in the selected emulsions, the prevailing mechanisms of hydrate crystals formation, the effect of the medium on the morphology of the formed hydrates are described in detail. The study of gas hydrates growth was carried out using the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), as well as synthesis in a special high-pressure chamber.

Development of high-tech methods for utilization of lignins produced in a huge amounts in the industry of lignicellulosic biomass processing is the urgent task. The present paper describes the new promising methods of wood lignins valorization to valuable chemical products, developed in the Institute of Chemistry and Chemical Technology SB RAS, FRC KSC SB RAS. Aromatic aldehydes and organic acids were obtained by catalytic oxidation of lignins by oxygen and hydrogen peroxide, liquid hydrocarbons - by catalytic conversion of lignins in supercritical alcohols. In the medium of supercritical ethanol the high yield of liquid products from lignin has been achieved in the presence of solid catalysts based on sulfated ZrO₂ and on high-silica zeolites in H-form. In the medium of supercritical butanol the high activity in the conversion of lignin to liquid products has been shown by supported on SiO₂ nickel-containing catalysts. New methods of synthesis of nanoporous carbons from lignin including carbon molecular sieves and aerogels with unique properties were developed. It was shown, that thermal alkaline activation of lignin promotes the formation of cabon materials with specific surface area up to 2700 m²/g and total pore volume up to 1.4 cm³/g. Obtained nanoporous carbon materials show a high sorption activity and have the prospects of their use for separation of gaseous mixtures and for purification of gases and water. The methods of synthesis of nanoporous organic and carbon aerogels on the basis of inexpective lignin- containing mixtures: lignin-tanin-formaldehyde and lignin-phenol-formaldehyde were suggested. Obtained aerogels have a broad potential applications as thermo-insulating materials, sorbents, catalysts, electrodes, electrochemical capacitors.

In recent years, as a result of research aimed at minimizing the harmful adverse effect on the patient in the treatment of cancer, a new class of drugs has been formed that provide both therapeutic effects on the tumor and its visualization. These drugs are called teranostics, and the methodology for their use is defined as teranistics, an area of integrated medicine that combines therapy and diagnosis, when doctors use one technology for both diagnosis and treatment of the disease during the general procedure. These drugs are called teranostics, and the methodology for their use is defined as teranostics, an area of integrated medicine that combines therapy and diagnosis, when use one technology for both diagnosis and treatment of the disease during the general procedure. A wide variety of nanostructures for teranics, represented by different nanostructures: carbon nanotubes, magnetic, gold, polymeric nanoparticles, nanoparticles of silicon dioxide, etc., opens wide prospects for their use in oncology. This review focuses on recent advances in the development of approaches to the development of theranostics based on silicon nanocomposites, where the therapeutic nucleosides serve as the main therapeutic agents. On the basis of the critical analysis, generalized conclusions were made about possible ways to increase the effectiveness of therapy, as well as the possibilities of visualization of antitumor drugs based on the nanoconstructions examined.

The results obtained by the authors from the Department of medical chemistry of NIOCH SB RAS on the directed functionalization of some plant metabolites or their derivatives, viz ., the labdane type diterpenoids and lupanes triterpenoids, and also the possibility for creation of pharmacologically promising antitumor, hepatoprotective, neuroprotective and analgesic agents on their basis are reviewed. It is well known, that birch and cedar (pine tries) are widely used for the needs of wood processing industry. At the same time, birch bark and cedar needles, which are the waste of these industries, give a valuable source of biologically active substances for medical and veterinary preparations. This determines the relevance of the development of environmentally friendly green technologies for the allocation of available metabolites, methods of their directed chemical modifications and the study of pharmacological activity in order to create innovative medicines.

The literature data and experimental results of the authors concerning the chemistry and synthesis of bismuth compounds of various compositions for technology and medicine are systematized and generalized. The use of the hydrolysis and heterogeneous solid-solution reactions was shown to be appropriate for the production of bismuth compounds of high purity and reactivity.