As large foreign suppliers of raw chemical materials and manufacturers of cosmetics and household chemical products are leaving Russia, this niche in the Russian economy is becoming open. Although Russian manufacturers are increasing the capacity of their facilities, it remains impossible to purchase certain raw materials and intermediate goods necessary to create cosmetics and personal care products, due to foreign manufacturers' refusal to supply them. It is the chemists at TSU who are able to fix this shortage. In the project UMNIK, young scientists are creating biologically harmless surface-active agents that will serve as the foundation for organic and natural cosmetic products. 

"The most required surface-active substances (SAAs) are components in more than 70 percent of cosmetics, among which are coconut oil diethanolamide, alkyl polyglycoside, cocoglucoside, decylglucoside, and laurylglycoside," says the project manager, research fellow at the Faculty of Chemistry of TSU Regina Fakhrislamova. "They can be found in shampoo, bubble batch, liquid soap, and other consumer products. Currently, the Russian cosmetic industry has a high demand for ingredients. We are ready to develop a line of intermediates". 

SAAs will be synthesized using environmentally friendly technology created previously by the Faculty of Chemistry, so they can be used for producing safe and natural cosmetics and household chemicals. The established SAA compositions will be relatively cheap, which makes them affordable even for small and medium business. 

"The domestic and worldwide demand for natural and organic cosmetics is constantly growing. That being said, the demand is growing faster than the supply, and the natural cosmetics segment is far from saturation", says Regina Fakhrislamova. "Russian manufacturers are objectively inferior to foreign giants in many aspects, both in terms of quality and product range. However, it’s exactly thanks to the void in the Russian market caused by foreign leaders in cosmetics, personal hygiene products, and household chemicals production and sale leaving the country, that local manufacturers now have the perfect opportunity to fill the niche and introduce their products to the market".

Intermediates developed from SAAs using TSU chemists’ technology will be offered directly to Russian companies that strive to produce high-quality products for the Russian audience.

Projects by the scientists at the Faculty of Chemistry of TSU are now especially in demand among Russian manufacturers. For example, silica gel, a component used in creating toothpastes, received a great response among the products recently offered to domestic companies. Currently, it is being tested by one of the well-known companies in the Russian Federation and neighboring countries. Two more toothpaste manufacturers interested in using components from domestic raw materials approached TSU scientists in person with a proposal for cooperation.