This research program stems its motivation from the serious situation of contamination of agricultural soils by persistent halogenated pesticides and from the consequent high health risk to which the population is subjected. To contribute to alleviate these pollution problems in Uzbekistan, the research proposal has the objective to investigate on the effect of the molecular characteristics of locally produced natural organic matter or humic substances (HUM) and lignins (LIG) on the detoxification and degradation of pollutants such as the main pesticides used in local agriculture and other halogenated anthropogenic compounds which have been recognized as persistent organic pollutants (POP) in the Uzbekistan agricultural soils. Moreover, the proposal wants to study further the molecular properties and reactivity of some nicotine-like alkaloids obtained from the wastes of the local tobacco production and alkaloids from other agricultural plants which may show detoxification activity towards the same pollutants. The research will focus on the development of sustainable extraction methods of natural organic matter, lignins and plant alkaloids of large availability in the agricultural production of Uzbekistan . In particular, environmentally compatible ionic liquids will be adopted to extract the plant alkaloids. All natural extracts will be subjected to a detailed molecular characterization and their interactions, as single materials or as combined formulations, with the selected POP will be followed before and after aging processes in order to determine their potential in adsorption-desorption of pollutants. In the case of the plant-derived alkaloids, the effect of specific catalysts, for either homogenous or heterogeneous catalysis, will be employed to increase the rate of POP degradation. In all experiments, the POP metabolites will be isolated and characterized in order to reach a sound understanding of the mechanisms of POP degradation occurring in the presence of the natural extracts.
The development of a technology employing materials containing the described natural products will represent an advance in the capacity of Uzbekistan to implement the necessary programs of environmental remediation. Moreover, the scientific results of this research may become a source of industrial activity related to the environmental control business and a possible new commercial opportunity for Uzbekistan.