Laboratory

Extraction of Natural Products and Synthesis of Bioactive Compounds

About the Laboratory

The primary mission of the laboratory is to support the utilization of the existing biodiversity in Bulgaria – medicinal and aromatic plants, which are of high quality and contain active ingredients, thus stimulating sustainable development and economic growth.

The laboratory is a part of the BioPharm Lab Complex in Sofia Tech park.

Activities

Current Activities
  • Application of green extraction technologies for utilization of Medicinal Aromatic Plants (MAPs).
  • Fractioning and purification of extracts, investigation of the content of active ingredients and their biological activity.
  • Determination of activity profiles and development of standard procedures and documentation for phytochemical production, oriented to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
  • Development of standardization and control procedures for MAPs-based products, with the purpose to guarantee the consumer’s interests.
  • Isolation of individual biologically active compounds, structure elucidation and synthesis of natural compounds analogues, possessing structural diversity and bioactivity (identification of promising compounds for development of drug candidates).

Services and Equipment

Services
  • Development of methods for extraction of biologically active components from medicinal and aromatic plants
  • Development of methods for qualitative and quantitative determination of plant extracts and control of products containing plant extracts
  • Isolation of individual compounds, elucidation of their structure and synthesis of analogues
  • Development and validation of new chromatographic and spectral methods for the analysis of bioactive compounds (natural and synthetic)
  • Determination of purity of synthetic compounds
  • Quality control of essential and base oils
  • Authentication of rose and lavender oils
  • Determination of fatty acid composition of oils of vegetable and animal origin
  • Determination of non-polar lipid classes in oils of vegetable and animal origin
  • Argan oil authentication
Equipment
  • Gas chromatograph with FID and MS detectors
  • Liquid chromatograph with triple MS detector
  • Liquid chromatograph with DAD and MS detectors
  • Liquid chromatograph with DAD and fluorescence detectors
  • Devices for automatic deposition, development, functionalization and densitometry of TLC/HPTLC plates
  • Flash chromatographs
  • Multifunctional reactor with a capacity of 5 liters.
  • Laboratory equipment for extraction of natural products and synthesis of organic compounds (reactors, rotary vacuum evaporators, vacuum installations, etc.);

Scientific Publications

Related Scientific Publications
No related scientific publications found.

Management

Prof. Vladimir Dimitrov

Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Scientific Areas:

Development of stereoselective methods for the synthesis of bioactive compounds, natural compounds, and analogues, as well as extractions of natural products using supercritical carbon dioxide

History:

In 1981, he defended his doctoral degree (Dr. rer. nat, magna cum laude) at the Technical University of Leuna-Merseburg, Germany. From 1989 to 1990, he was a scholar of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and from 1992 to 2001 he was a researcher at the University of Zurich.

Delivered numerous lectures at foreign universities and international conferences, along with contributing numerous articles to international journals.

Completed numerous contracts within EU framework programs, international funds, etc., as well as with pharmaceutical companies.