The project of pupils of BelSU Engineering school became one of the best in Russia

“The Lichens” project of pupils of BelSU Engineering school Veronika Ozerova and Yaroslav Chermoshansky was included into the top-three at a prestigious competition for school students and first-year students in the nomination – "An innovation on the roll". The competition is organized by "Education Academy". According to the research supervisor of children of the senior research associate of organic synthesis and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy research laboratory, Candidate of Chemistry Boris Paponov, the essence of the project consists in technology of extraction (allocation) a substance known as parietin from lichens.

“Parietin has pronounced anticarcinogenic characteristic, – Boris Paponov said. – In 2015 according to the British scientific magazine "Nature" parietin has been recognized as the most perspective anticarcinogenic substance of natural origin. Lichens from which he is allocated are not a rarity, there is a lot of them around, they grow on trees”.

Students have fulfilled technology and methodology of allocation of a parietin from natural raw materials (lichen). During work there was an interesting case which has become a discovery – instead of acetone isopropyl alcohol has been used, and extraction has accelerated many times.

Children have been studied at Engineering school for only a year, and the level of their research is almost equal to the level of student's qualification work. Such results are caused by competence of the teachers of school, modern technical base and diligence of pupils. By the way, other group of young researchers has repeated technology of allocation of a yellow pigment from lichens which was known five thousand years ago (Celts made paint for fabric of lichens).

The awards ceremony of winners of a competition will take place on January 25, 2018 in Moscow, in the Historical park "Russia — My History" at VDNKh.