YSU Faculty of Chemistry seeks to boost research studies

In the Chair of Physical and Colloid Chemistry of the Faculty of Chemistry, the representative of "Immunopharm" LLC, the winner of the competitive tender announced by YSU, conducts a training course on the methods of operating the equipment for the teaching staff and students. In the near future, YSU will invite a specialist from Poland to enrich the knowledge about the operation of the combined equipment in the best way.

Armen Galstyan, Deputy Dean of the YSU Faculty of Chemistry, Candidate of Chemical Sciences, Associate Professor, mentioned that state-of-the-art combined equipment will be used to characterize materials, discover the structure of unknown materials, study the interactions of certain types of known materials and implement other research works.

"In modern universities and chemical laboratories, where analytical research is carried out, the presence of such equipment is an absolute necessity. Before obtaining this equipment, we were solving only a part of the problems using the high-performance liquid chromatography system available in the Faculty of Chemistry. And this combined equipment provides an opportunity to conduct such research in both scientific and educational fields, which we did not have the opportunity to do until now," added Armen Galstyan.

Liana Gabrielyan, Associate Professor of the Chair of Physical and Colloid Chemistry of the YSU Faculty of Chemistry, emphasized that the new equipment will boost the scientific research works in the Faculty of Chemistry, the Institute of Physics, the Faculty of Biology, as well as studies conducted within the framework of international cooperation. 

"The combined equipment may be used in the studies of various fields, including materials science, pharmacology, food safety, as well as physical, analytical, organic and inorganic chemistry. The study of structural features of organic and inorganic compounds, biomolecules and their liquids also plays an important role," said Liana Gabrielyan.  

In this context, the Associate Professor of the Chair of Physical and Colloid Chemistry emphasized that in the field of food safety, the vibrational spectroscopy station combined with gas chromatography provides an opportunity to identify the presence of various substances in a selected food sample, as well as to conduct quantitative research on the identified substances.

"By placing a food sample in the equipment, we may identify the ingredients. Together with the equipment, we have a large database, which includes more than 10,000 substances, and by comparing the substances found in the food with the substances included in the database, we identify which substances are found in the sample," said Liana Gabrielyan.

According to her, it is possible to carry out this kind of study in pharmacology as well. By placing the pill in the equipment, it is possible to identify both the ingredients and define the quantity of them. In chemistry, it is possible to identify compounds and study the structure of substances in any aggregate state, both in pure state and in liquids. The joint analysis of IR and Raman spectra will make it possible to unambiguously define all variations, reveal the nature of functional groups participating in intermolecular interactions, and perform other research studies.

In the Chair of Physics and Colloid Chemistry, the equipment is already being used in some studies, however, Liana Gabrielyan emphasized that a training course will be organized to completely master the methods of operating the equipment. She added that this equipment is a product of 2023 and is available in few research centers in the world.

It should be noted that YSU acquired the equipment as a result of winning the competition "Providing financial support for the modernization of the material-technical base of scientific departments" announced by the Higher Education and Science Committee of the RA MoESCS.

The continuous re-equipment of the university's laboratory infrastructures contributes to the involvement of both teaching staff and students in research projects, encouraging the complete implementation and dissemination of research studies.