Main directions of research:
- substantiation of methods for obtaining pectin-containing functional materials from wild and medicinal plants; identification of the relationship between features of the chemical and supramolecular structure of polyuronides and physico-chemical properties of hydrogels and films of pectin and hybrid polymer-inorganic materials obtained on their basis, including:
- enterosorbents and means of preventing mycotoxicosis for eliminating heavy metals, radionucleides, mycotoxins from the body;
- carriers of drugs having a high sorption capacity and pH-controlled release of the active substance;
- identification of the regularities in development of the mesopore structure and chemisorption capacity of flax shive and fibrous flax processing waste taking into account the size of the globule and adsorption properties of enzyme preparations and also using fermentation products as reagents for regulate of lignin redox transformations;
- substantiation of approaches to the mathematical description of changes in external and intra-diffusion limiting in the processes of sorption, kinetics and sorption equilibrium with the participation of modified biopolymer materials;
- development of methods for production, structural studies and functionalization of organosolvent nanolignin preparations estimating their photochemical and adsorption capacity.
Research objects:
polyuronides and biomass of wild and medicinal plants; waste of bast fibrous raw materials processing; organosolvent preparations of nanolignin; industrial enzymes; processes of nanostructured biochemical modification and functionalization of biopolymers and obtained phytocomposites.
At present, studies are being conducted included identifying the features of the chemical structure pectin substances isolated from wild and medicinal plants, the bast and woody parts of the flax stem, and also food plant raw materials taking into account a differentiated assessment of the contribution various mechanisms of sorption binding ionogenic pollutants. Methods of biochemical modification of biomass plant raw materials are being developed to rational combining the contribution of physical and chemical adsorption, designing the sorption capacity and sorption binding strength of the active substance. Approaches to modeling the molecular structure of the polymer chain and spatial interaction between macromolecules in the sorbent structure are developed. The influence of structural parameters to interphase mass transfer is studied using the diffusion models of Boyd, Morris-Weber and gel diffusion, kinetic models of Lagergren, Ho and McKay, and also classical models describing sorption equilibrium.
The research results find practical application in the development of methods for obtaining multifunctional high-protein feed additives for animal husbandry, providing a high content of "transit" protein and optimization of protein nutrition of ruminants, as well as prevention of digestive dysfunctions and mycotoxicosis caused by numerous types of azaheterocyclic mycotoxins.
In parallel, researches are being conducted aimed to obtaining technical sorbents based on flax materials which biomodified taking into account the field of their practical use. The novelty of the realize methods provides the selection of enzyme preparations according to the substrate specificity of their action as well as taking into account the size of the molecule and strength of the sorption binding of the biocatalyst on a solid-phase substrate. This makes it possible to carry out a purposeful spatially localized effect to certain biopolymer components of flax raw materials in certain structural zones. Previously, these approaches were successfully realized to processing flax fibrous materials in textile production. According to the new tasks for production of specialized materials sorbing the water-soluble ionogenic pollutants, volatile organic compounds, low- or high-viscosity petroleum products the conditions of biochemical modification are determined.
A direction including biochemical modification of lignocellulose raw materials using the developed know-how for the targeted modification of nanolignin preparations is perspective. According to the results of a complex study of lignin state by FT-IR spectroscopy and differential UV spectroscopy, the modification conditions to a 4-fold increase in the photoprotective properties of lignin while ensuring absolute transparency in the visible spectrum range are determined. This is fundamental importance, for example, to producing of sunscreen cosmetic products.
