Agriculture and Science

Prof OS Olatunji leads the Analytical/Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology Research Group in the Westville campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (from December 2017). He holds a BSc (Hons) Applied Chemistry, MSc and PhD in Chemistry (Analytical Environmental) from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

His niche covers topical issues around fundamental research in Analytical, chemistry, Environmental Chemistry, Air, water and Soil quality Science, Food (quality) Chemistry, Toxicology, and Planetary Chemistry. His current project is on the detection, identification and quantitation of contaminants of emerging environmental and health concern (CECs), endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), and other persistent organic pollutants (POPs), Chemical Risk Assessment (CRA), Environmental Remediation Technologies, Materials Chemistry, and Planetary Chemistry. His research also

He has developed several simple, rapid and accurate analytical methods for the detection and quantitation of trace occurring pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), pesticides, pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), etc., in matrices including food, water, air, soil and in other environmental matrices. He has also carried out several chemical risk assessment studies (CRA), environmental impact assessment (EIA) and environmental audits (EA) exercises.

His quest for finding pragmatic solutions to contaminated/polluted water and other environmental compartments predicates his research front on the development of remediation technologies that can be efficient in resolving microchemical pollutants using techniques including adsorption, advanced oxidation procedure (photocatalytic) and membrane filtration.

His Research space in UKZN boast of world class equipment ranging from HPLC-UV-DAD, LC-MS, GC-MS, ICP-OES, XRD, NMR, BET, TGA and many more.