Young scientist from St Petersburg University at the Tavrida.ART festival

The Tavrida.ART youth art festival combines a variety of different formats and events in five fields of cultural activities: music; cinema; science; performing arts; and design. The Tavrida.ART 2023 programme included the Science as Art Creation, where young researchers from across Russia presented their latest technological developments in the format of a popular science show.

Irina Timofeeva, Professor in the Department of Analytical Chemistry at St Petersburg University, member of the Coordinating Council for Youth Affairs in the Sphere of Science and Education under the President of the Russian Federation, and Anastasiia Rychagova, a doctoral student in the Ecology programme at Lomonosov Moscow State University, have participated in the immersive performance event "The World Around Us" focused on the interaction between nature and man. In her talk "Green chemical analysis", Irina Timofeeva presented one of her major developments — a technique for chemical analysis of the quality of agricultural and pharmaceutical products. In recent years, special attention has been paid to the environmental friendliness of these products, which is evidenced by: phasing out toxic substances and searching for their natural analogues; minimising the use of any kind of chemical reagents; and automating the chemical analysis processes.

Various organic and inorganic substances, such as pesticides and antibiotics, which can be harmful to the environment and human health, are commonly used in industry and agriculture. Irina Timofeeva has been developing new chemical analysis methods and techniques that enable us to identify such substances faster and with less environmental impact. Deep eutectic solvents — a new generation of environmentally friendly solvents — are employed in the new techniques for extraction and determination of potentially harmful substances. These new analytical techniques have found a wide range of applications: from quality management of the agricultural products, medicine and forensics to petroleum product analysis and other areas.

Earlier this year, Irina Timofeeva and Andrei Shishov, Associate Professors in the Department of Analytical Chemistry at St Petersburg University, were named laureates of the annual Presidential Prize in Science and Innovation for Young Scientists for 2022. Over almost ten years of joint work, St Petersburg University chemists has developed over 60 techniques for chemical analysis of a variety of products and materials, ranging from food and beverages to building materials and petroleum products. The results of their research and development efforts are already implemented into practice.