The developed method will allow us to exclude dangerous chemical solvents (methanol, chloroform and diethyl ether) from the production cycle of important biologically active compounds – saponins – replacing them with water heated under pressure.
Tamara Dudnikova, Master of Southern Federal University, at work Tamara Dudnikova, Master of Southern Federal University, at work
In addition, the new method will significantly reduce the time spent on extracting saponins from 12–24 hours to one hour, reduce the cost of extracting these compounds and make them available to manufacturers of cosmetics, medicines and dietary supplements, and will also be useful for the food and agricultural industries .
Tamara Dudnikova , master’s student at the Department of Soil Science, junior researcher at the laboratory “Agrobiotechnologies for increasing soil fertility and the quality of agricultural products” :
“Today, for the extraction of 0.1 grams of saponins from plant material, according to various Russian and foreign methods, from 30 ml to 100 ml of ethanol, 30–50 ml of chloroform, up to 50 ml of acetylate, acetone, petroleum ether and up to 100 ml of hexane. Accordingly, spent reagents require specialized disposal of chemical waste. The most important aspect of developing a new method is its environmental friendliness.”
Tamara Dudnikova – winner of the “SFU Student of the Year – 2021” in the nomination “Young Scientist of the Year in the field of natural sciences and physical and mathematical sciences” Tamara Dudnikova – winner of the “SFU Student of the Year – 2021” in the nomination “Young Scientist of the Year in the field of natural sciences and physical and mathematical Sciences”
Last year, Tamara won the “Student of the Year 2021” competition in the “Young Scientist of the Year in the Field of Natural Sciences and Physical and Mathematical Sciences” category and the winner of the “UMNIK” competition, held with the support of the Innovation Promotion Fund.
To date, there are preliminary agreements with representatives of Biopochva LLC, Agrokholod LLC and Granula-9 LLC on their intentions to purchase a license for the soon-developed technology for the production of saponins.
The research is carried out within the framework of the Priority 2030 program.
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