LABORATORY OF ANALYTICAL ECOTOXICOLOGY

The main direction of research is ecological-analytical control of ecotoxicants in the environment, including: development of trace-level analysis methods for determining the presence of ecotoxicants; study of behaviour of persistent organic pollutants in the environment and ecosystems; study of the composition and distribution of dioxins, pesticides and other ecotoxicants in soil, water, and living things, including humans. 

The Laboratory has developed methods for the determination of dioxins and other ecotoxicants such as polychlorinated biphenyls, chloro-organic pesticides, polybrominated compounds and others in various matrices. Elevated solubility of dioxins in water has been determined, theoretically with formation of colloidal compounds. Solubility of dioxins in water under subcritical conditions has also been studied, and the possibility of dioxins migrating into deep soil layers has been demonstrated.

A long-term study of the dioxin contamination of Vietnam has permitted its territory to be classified according to the nature of the pollution. In the soil of Vietnam, methoxy-substituted dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyl ethers and pentachlorobenzol have been identified, which may be products of octachlordibenzo-p-dioxin metabolism. Dioxin pollution has also been studied in a number of regions of Russia (Moscow City; Moscow, Vladimir, Arkhangelsk Oblasts and other regions, ecological disaster zones, such as Chapayevsk, and others).