​​​Marina Kudrjašova​

Wood is the most abundant form of biomass used by industry and is the source of the three major biolpolymers in nature – cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. While cellulose is responsible for about 40-50% of the dry weight of wood, lignin content varies from 10% to about 35% across species. For decades, lignin has been seen as a bothersome side-product that needs removal at all cost. However, in the last decade, due to its polyphenolic nature, lignin has emerged to the focus of attention as a renewable alternative to crude oil based chemistry. The project aims to develop technologies for the extaction and fractionation of lignin and cellulose derived from low valorization level bleached chemi-thermomechanical pulp or industrial wood-waste. The goal of the project is to develop practical and environmentally friendly functional materials (e.g. thermo isolators and surfactants). Also, the project will identify and characterize novel industrial enzymes from extreme thermophilic organisms.

Development of adaptable supramolecular chirality sensors is important for the industry and academia. Chiral molecules, in nform of enantiomers, are commonly used in the pharmaceutical, food, perfume, cosmetic, and agricultural industries. In biological ecosystems, chiral molecules are metabolized, absorbed, and excreted selectively, and their biological effects can vary significantly. Therefore, the environmental impact of different stereoisomers can be radically different. Standard analysis methods that do not distinguish the chirality of molecules may underestimate the effects of these compounds. In this project, we designed and synthesized new receptor molecules through both supramolecular interactions and covalent bonding. By investigating the structure, optical, and supramolecular properties of the obtained receptor molecules, we reached several new compounds with the potential to be applied for separation, isolation, and detection of bioactive compounds and environmental pollutants. We developed environmentally friendly mechanosynthesis methods to reduce waste production during the synthesis process of organic compounds. Additionally, we studied formation of oligomeric macrocyclic receptors and developed methods for obtaining both mono- and multifunctional macrocyclic compounds. We initiated research on the creation of supramolecular materials and demonstrated that materials for enantioselective electronic noses can be easily prepared using porphyrins and chiral hemicucurbiturils. We also investigated the correlation between the circulardichroism signal generation and molecular orbitals and geometries modelled by quantum chemical methods. We also showed that the signal of the studied optically active sensor molecules can be amplified via interaction with inorganic chiral materials. The results of the project were published in number of research articles and two patents were applied for.