Moscow State University hosted 45th International Chemistry Olympiad on July 15-24.
291 participants from 73 countries (USA, Canada, South America, Australia, Africa, almost all European and Asian countries) had to pass theoretical and experimental tours. The tasks were challenging. For example, it was necessary to synthesize 2 organic compounds, to define water hardness and its pH, to find molecular mass of polymers by viscosity measurements - all for 5 hours.
The Russian team collected 2 gold and 2 silver medals. It ranked fifth losing to the teams of China, Republic of Korea, Taiwan and Ukraine in the medal count.
Mikhail Yagofarov, a school student from Kazan took a silver medal. He expressed his gratitude to Igor Sedov, Boris Solomonov and other professors of Kazan Federal University who had prepared him for the Olympiad.
Mikhail Yagofarov plans to take part in the next Olympiad in Vietnam. In order to become the participant he has to win all-Russian Olympiad. He is also going to apply for Kazan Federal University in a year, that’s why he attends special classes at the department of physical chemistry.