The article discusses the importance of student research activities for the effective formation of the key competencies of a future specialist in the field of chemistry. The theme "Solutions" is defined as one of the most important in the school chemistry course and at the same time as the most suitable for the implementation of educational research work of students. To support students' research activities, two types of virtual chemical laboratories are used: distance and imitation. The combination of these types of virtual chemical laboratories in the study of the top-ic "Solutions" provides an opportunity to take advantage of each of them and in-crease the level of support for educational and research activities of students. The conditions and ways of using virtual chemical laboratories to provide students with research activities when studying the topic "Solutions" are examined. Exam-ples of developed virtual chemical works and their essence are given. Based on the implementation of virtual chemical laboratories in the educational process of various educational institutions, it is justified the assumption about the effective-ness of using the developed virtual chemical research to develop students' re-search activities when studying the topic "Solutions".