Science

The Department of Chemistry conducts a very wide range of research topics in the design, synthesis and purification of a variety of chemical compounds and the study of the biological activity of most of them, calculations mainly in the field of folding of peptides and proteins by the UNRES force field method, DNA damage by low-energy secondary electrons and structural studies of compounds and energetic crystal lattice by the diffractometric method. The most important groups of research topics carried out at the Department are included under the headings:

1. Study of the structure of amyloid deposits (causing degenerative diseases at different ages of the patient) and the causes of their formation by experimental and computational methods;
2. Design and synthesis of chemical compounds for which strong bactericidal and fungicidal properties have been proven, and further steps have been taken to specify future medicines;
3. Investigations into the causes of the ease of dimerization, oligomerization and fibrillization of human cystatin and studies into the physicochemical and biological properties and derivatives of 3-(benzoxazole-5-yl)alanine, analogues of neurotransmitter hormones, bradykinin and vasopressin, inhibitors of osteoporosis;
4. Design and synthesis of various sugar derivatives and glycoconjugates with biological properties;
5. Studies of acid-base interactions in non-aqueous environments;
6. Studies of molecular mechanisms of oxidative stress induced by reactive nitrogen species in an experimental model of acute pancreatitis;
7. Design, synthesis and study of the properties of numerous groups of complex compounds with very different ligands, flavones, crowns, Schiff bases, beta-diketones, etc.;
8. Studies by diffractometry of all classes of compounds synthesized at the Department;
9. Use of MS, NMR, IR, CD and other techniques in the study of all classes of compounds obtained at the Department;
10. Search for HIV-1 inhibitors and hepatitis C vaccines;
11. Studies on the assessment of the risks and spread of persistent organic pollutants, organometallic pollutants, heavy metals and radionuclides in the terrestrial, marine and atmospheric environment, supported by computational studies to predict the physicochemical properties of various types of environmental pollutants in order to assess their risk potential and also their fate in various components;
12. Research on the development of analytical methods for modern reaction media and industrial preparations (ionic liquids, nanomaterials, etc.) in environmental samples, and the prediction of their dispersion in the environment of soils and bottom sediments;
13. Analysis, risk prediction and studies of toxicity and ecotoxicity of particularly hazardous technical preparations, including newly synthesized reaction media (ionic liquids) and modern products of nanotechnology (nanomaterials);
14. Studies of pollution of the Baltic Sea by persistent, toxic and bioaccumulative halogen-organic compounds (PCBs, PCTs, dioxins and furans, and perfluoroorganic compounds);
15. Studies of amorphous solids with practical applications in chemical and environmental technology and nanotechnology, especially luminescent materials or precursors of heterogeneous catalysts;
16. Research in environmental molecular biotechnology, including modification of genes and their functional fragments, search for new systems for regulating genetic expression, cloning and expression of single genes, their functional modules and whole groups of genes encoding, among others, enzymes of biosynthetic pathways of industrial importance;
17. Environmental protection technologies, including methods for enhanced oxidation of pollutants, remediation of contaminated soils, optimization of wastewater treatment and sludge management;
18. Development and implementation of modern teaching materials and forms of education in natural sciences.