A chemist from St Petersburg University is awarded a medal of the Russian Academy of Sciences

For several years, Andrei Shishov has been carrying out research into new possibilities for using deep eutectic solvents in the development of chemical analysis procedures. These new types of environmentally friendly solvents, as a rule, are made from safe natural ingredients and have great potential in many scientific fields. Such compounds have a wide range of applications: from refining petroleum products and pulp production to analysing natural water and working with food. In particular, eutectic solvents are used in a method developed by St Petersburg University scientists for determining various types of phenols in smoked products that impart a smoke flavour to food. Andrei Shishov's project to detect the concentration of phenols in food products using vitamin B4 was included in a series of ten works, for which the scientist was awarded the prize of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Medals of the Russian Academy of Sciences with prizes for young scientists of Russia and students of higher education institutions are awarded in order to identify and support talented young researchers, and to promote their professional growth. The Russian Academy of Sciences awards annually 19 researchers in each age category for the best scientific efforts in natural sciences, engineering and humanities.

‘I specialise in the use of eutectic solvents in analytical chemistry and offer new options for using them to control the quality of food, and natural and biological objects. Additionally, together with our colleagues, we offer their application in other spheres. So, for example, we have carried out work on laser deposition of copper from these solvents. We are the first to put forward this idea. Nobody anywhere has implemented it before,’ said Andrei Shishov, Associate Professor of the Department of Analytical Chemistry at St Petersburg University. ‘I have already submitted my works for competitions several times. Their scope has gradually accumulated, and, this year, the Russian Academy of Sciences must have decided that it was enough to award a medal. For me, this is a sign that in Russia my works have received recognition at such a high level and appear to be interesting and relevant.’

Andrei Shishov has twice been a medallist of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Earlier, in 2012 when he was a student at St Petersburg University, he won a medal and a prize from the Russian Academy of Sciences for a series of works devoted to the development of methods for quality control of petroleum products.