ISC RAS is a unique research and educational center solving fundamental problems of the theory of solutions and applied problems related to the development of modern chemical engineering based on the use of solutions and to the preparation of new materials.
Solution chemistry is a key component of chemical science, a natural link between such fields of knowledge as physical chemistry, chemical physics, molecular biology, statistical mechanics, biochemistry, biophysics, and materials chemistry. The multidisciplinary character of solution chemistry stems from the fact that most chemical reactions, including high production volume industrial chemical processes, "fine" biochemical processes in living organisms, chemical complex formation reactions and processes, and physical phenomena in liquid phase systems in extreme temperature and pressure conditions, as well as those caused by magnetic and electric fields, are associated with solvation effects. The effects of solvation/interaction of a dissolved substance with a solvent influence most physico-chemical processes typical of animate and inanimate nature.
The Institute's expertise includes synthesis of functional nanomaterials by the methods based on obtaining high dispersion systems using supercritical fluids, ionic liquids, and sol-gel processes, as well as development and creation of novel pharmaceutical forms of drugs and medical use materials. The Institute's theoretical and experimental studies are aimed at solving specific problems in the framework of the Strategy of Scientific and Technological Development of the Russian Federation.
ISC RAS holds a leading position in this field in the Russian Federation. The studies of the Institute's leading researchers are known and recognized abroad, which is confirmed by the Institute's active participation in various international, federal, and departmental programs.
ISC RAS is currently doing research together with its partners from Sweden, Canada, Germany, the USA, France, India, Brazil, Bulgaria, and other countries.
In the last five years, a lot of the Institute's workers have travelled abroad to do research together with their foreign partners and to give talks at more than 30 large international scientific events.
The Institute is a participant of the Science project (October 1, 2018 - December 31, 2024), a national project aimed at facilitating the scientific and technical development of the Russian Federation through:
- transition to advanced digital smart production methods; robotized systems; new materials and design methods; development of big data processing systems, machine learning, and artificial intelligence;
- transition to environmentally safe and resource saving power industry; improvement of the efficiency of extraction and advanced processing of hydrocarbon fuel; finding of new sources and methods of transportation and storage of energy;
- transition to personalized medicine, high-tech healthcare and health protection technologies by a number of methods, including the efficient use of drug compounds (first of all, antibacterial preparations).
In order to be at the forefront of the innovative development and technical modernization of the Russian economy, ISC RAS has become an active participant of four technological platforms established by the Government Commission on High Technologies and Innovations (Protocol No. 2 of April 1, 2011):
• Medicine of the Future,
• Bioindustry and Bioresources – BioTech2030,
• Bioenergy,
• New polymer composite materials and technologies.
ISC RAS publications: In the last five years (2015-2019), ISC RAS has published 265 papers in foreign journals. Fifty-two foreign scientists have done research and published papers together with the Institute's workers. In the last few years, the ISC RAS researchers have published a total number of 1013 papers in journals indexed in the Web of Science database and authored 15 monographs and 36 chapters in joint monographs. The Institute's workers have taken part in more than 30 large scientific events. ISC RAS has held 28 international scientific conferences.
In the period from 2015 till 2019, the Institute's researchers have been granted 14 titles of protection in the Russian Federation for their inventions and utility models.
The research results that can be implemented in practice are annually presented at international innovation exhibitions and salons.
The results of one of the Institute's fundamental studies were commercialized in the form of a large socially important project. It consisted in developing the scientific foundation and technology of deep processing of low-grade flax fibers for converting them into a wide range of fibrous materials (cotton- and wool-like materials for textile industry, high purity biologically active materials for medical use, fire- and bioresistant materials for engineering purposes) based on the results of systematic studies of chemical and structural transformations of flax cellulose and impurities formed in it under the action of redox systems. This was also part of the strategic plan aimed at reducing the dependence of the Russian economy on fluctuations of imported cotton prices. The problem is that Uzbekistan and some other countries have recently considerably reduced the volume of exported seed cotton used to produce a variety of dual-use goods, including cellulose for manufacturing gun powder for the artillery and solid propellants, dressings, and textile fabrics and goods. Two plants – LenOm, LLC, an enterprise in the town of Kalachinsk in Omsk region, and Vologodchina, an agricultural enterprise in Cherepovetsk in Vologda region, – have been built based on the process documentation developed at ISC RAS, according to the recommendations of the Chief Military Medical Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation for providing medical institutions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation with surgical flax wool (ВХЛС-«ИХР» (VKhLS-ISC)) and atraumatic antimicrobial wound dressings with sorption properties. The plants have so far produced 2.4 thousand tons of modified flax fiber, 5.1 thousand tons of surgical flax wool, more than 10 mln square meters of the НО-Л-1А (NO-L-1A) heat and sound insulation materials for railway carriage manufacturing. These highly demanded goods for medical purposes are produced from cheaper domestic raw materials instead of expensive foreign cotton. The technology makes it possible to preserve the unique natural properties of the flax fiber – water absorption, air permeability and ability to prevent wound infections and facilitate the recovery. Such materials also help exclude environmentally hazardous chlorinated reagents from the production process. The integrated efforts of ISC RAS on the Development and Industrial Implementation of Effective Technologies of Manufacturing Innovative Products for Textile, Medical and Engineering Purposes Produced from Russian Low-Grade Bast-Fiber Raw Materials received the Award of the Government of the Russian Federation in the Field of Science and Engineering (according to decree No. 254-р of the RF Government issued on February 27, 2013).
ISC RAS is now a large scientific center with state-of-the-art equipment for doing research. The Institute's modern high precision instruments and complexes, advanced measurement techniques allow its workers to research the properties of a wide range of objects by the methods of chromatography-mass spectrometry, gas phase electron-diffraction, high-temperature mass-spectrometry, gas and liquid chromatography, electron and optical microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, electronic transition and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, atomic absorption and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry. The Institute's computing cluster can quite successfully solve a wide range of problems of quantum-mechanical and molecular-dynamics calculations.
All the expensive equipment belongs to the Upper Volga Region Center of Physico-Chemical Research, the Institute's center for joint use of scientific equipment. It was established as a structural unit of the Institute of Solution Chemistry of the RAS and Ivanovo State University of Chemistry and Technology. By the decision of the Scientific Council of the Ministry of Industry, Science and Technologies of Russia (No. 40-794, dated July 25, 2003), the Center was included in the system of centers for joint use of equipment. The total cost of the modern scientific equipment in 2020 was more than 239 mln roubles. The unique research facility created at the Institute in 2018 represents a set of equipment for spectral measurements of supercritical fluids. The complex of molecular fluid spectroscopy apparatuses of the ISC RAS is the world's only facility equipped with special cells for obtaining infrared (IR) vibrational spectra and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra at supercritical parameters of state. A unique optical high-temperature high-pressure cell has been designed and constructed at the Institute to achieve its research goals.
Since 2020 ISC RAS has been a participant of the federal project Construction of State-of-the-Art Facilities for Research and Development in the Russian Federation realized within the framework of the national project Science approved by decree No. 1875 of the Government of the Russian Federation, dated December 27, 2019. The grants in the form of subsidies for equipment modernization that the ISC RAS Center for Joint Use of Scientific Equipment will receive in the next five years will allow it to extend the range of cutting-edge studies.
The equipment from the world's leading producers allows the Upper Volga Region Center for Joint Use of Scientific Equipment to conduct world-class studies, including those aimed at investigating molecular and crystal structures, specific surface area, particle and pore sizes, morphology of materials, their thermal stability and phase transitions. The fact that the Center for Joint Use of Scientific Equipment of ISC RAS has so many users from outside the Institute shows that its services are accessible and in demand and the research is done on state-of-the-art equipment.
Thanks to its excellent research results, ISC RAS was ranked as a first category research institution by Order No. 157 of March 30, 2018 of the Federal Agency for Scientific Organizations. The assessment of the ISC RAS activity results was made based on its publications and innovations, financial and human resource indicators, cooperation with real economy enterprises, integration of science and education, and involvement in the world research community.
The Institute is an active participant and organizer of scientific events in the region. ISC RAS can be truly called the center shaping and promoting scientific knowledge in the region, as the Institute often initiates and takes part in realization of a lot of undertakings in the region. For example, ISC RAS initiated and actively participated in the establishment of the Council for Science and Technology under the Governor of Ivanovo region, facilitated the signing of an agreement between the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and Ivanovo region administration about joint funding of regional grants. The Institute is among the organizers of the series of regional exhibitions Innovations and scientific and industrial conferences Achievements in Textile Chemistry - into Production (Textile Chemistry) aiming to demonstrate the intellectual potential of the research, research and production, and production organizations of Ivanovo region. ISC RAS participates in the preparation and representation of the Ivanovo region achievements at international exhibitions in Moscow, at world innovation salons in Brussels, and at International exhibitions of inventions in Geneva (Inventions Geneva). One of the results of these activities is the database including the innovations of the higher educational institutions and research and production companies of Ivanovo city and Ivanovo region.
