The discovery by scientists from the Chemical Faculty of Moscow State University will assist in preserving natural ecosystems - the study will enable scientists to better understand the nature of pollution and promptly establish its sources.

A team of scientists from the Chemical Faculty of the Lomonosov Moscow  State University has developed a new approach to monitoring the environmental condition and identified new potential hazardous substances in Moscow. The study results have been published in the scientific journal Environmental Pollution, the press service of the university reports.
"Testing the snow makes it possible to assess the air pollution in the winter period. Gas chromatography along with a time-of-flight mass analyzer enabled us to identify new substances, such as iodinated substances, polychlorinated anisoles and even nickel-containing organic complex, which we had not expected to find in the samples", - the article reads. In this particular case, scientists consider the discovered substances as potentially dangerous.
These substances were revealed by chemists in the samples of snow collected in Moscow in March 2016.
"The scientific value of the research work is in expanding the boundaries of the use of mass spectrometry and the development of protocols for  identification of organic substances in complex, multicomponent mixtures whose composition are extremely little known about: samples of snow, ice, water (sea, drinking, fresh, sewage, from clouds ), plant extracts, food, beverages, cosmetics, industrial goods, and the secretion of amphibians," - the project's author Albert Lebedev, Doctor of Chemistry, Professor of the Organic Chemistry Department of Moscow State University explained.
The method used reveals much more substances in the Moscow environment than the methods used by other laboratories. The discovery of new potentially hazardous substances in the environment can assist in preserving natural ecosystems - the study will enable scientists to better understand the nature of pollution and promptly establish its sources.