Elizaveta Larina, a post-graduate student, has been awarded with the Russian Government Scholarship for 2015/2016. She works for the Catalytic process dynamics lab (Physical and colloid chemistry department) at the Research Institute of Oil and Coal Chemical Synthesis.

Elizaveta Larina takes part in the collective research called “Working out and Applying New Research Methods for Studying Mechanisms of Complex Catalytic Processes with an Emphasis on Cross-Coupling Reactions”.

– Cross-coupling reactions are the most effective way to combine carbon atoms in order to synthesize complex molecules that can make our day-to-day life better.  In 2010 Richard F. Heck, Ei-ichi Negishi and Akire Sudzuki were announced Nobel Prize winners for the discovery of cross-coupling reactions. At our lab we are engaged in studying mechanisms of this reaction. With the help of this reaction it is possible not only to synthesize natural compounds at labs, but modify pharmaceutical products and create organic molecules that are capable of giving off light, – Elizaveta Larina tells.

For the last decade there have been published many articles on this topic. The interest can be explained by the enormous potential that cross-coupling reactions may have both for theory and practice.

Elizaveta Larina actively participates in scientific conferences. Thus, she took part in the All-Russian School-Conference for Young Researchers “Chemistry under Sigma: Research, Innovations and Technologies” in Omsk, the Second Russian Congress “Ros-Catalysis” in Samara and in the 30th All-Russian workshop on chemical dynamics held in Moscow.