CCB Colloquium,
11:00 a.m., WL-Aud

Ionic Liquids (ILs) per se have been known over a century, but they have come under intense worldwide scrutiny only relatively recently due to implications for the use of these compounds as solvents, where the accessible physical property set (e.g., non- or low-volatility, thermal stability, or large liquid ranges) achievable with many ILs are often unique. There is now, however, growing interest in the materials applications of ILs which utilize novel tunable physical and chemical property sets for such applications as energetic materials, lubricants, metal ion complexation, etc. While a tremendous amount of recent research has focused on the physical properties of ILs, and more recently the chemical properties, the toxicity, a biological property has been one of the most highly debated topics in this field. Here we consider then, the third evolution of ILs where biological activity is the primary IL property and look at ILs as active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Taken together, it is clear that ILs offer almost every technological field an opportunity to advance knowledge and performance.

BioSketch:

Dr. Robin D. Rogers was born in Ft. Lauderdale, FL in 1957 and moved to Alabama in 1960. He obtained both his B.S. in Chemistry (1978, Summa Cum Laude) and his Ph.D. in Chemistry (1982) at The University of Alabama and served as Distinguished Research Professor, Robert Ramsay Chair of Chemistry, and Director of the Center for Green Manufacturing at UA. He recently accepted the position Chair of Green Chemistry and Co-Director of QUILL at The Queen�s University of Belfast in Northern Ireland (UK) while maintaining a joint appointment at The University of Alabama.

Rogers holds nine issued patents and has published over 630 papers on a diverse array of topics. His research interests cover the use of ionic liquids and Green Chemistry for sustainable technology through innovation and include Materials (advanced polymeric and composite materials from biorenewables), Separations (novel strategies for separation and purification of value added products from biomass), Energy (new lubricant technologies and selective separations), and Medicine (elimination of waste while delivering improved pharmaceutical performance).

Rogers is the Founding Editor-in-Chief of the American Chemical Society journal Crystal Growth & Design. He is also an editorial board member of Separation Science & Technology and Solvent Extraction and Ion Exchange, as well as a member of the international advisory boards for Green Chemistry, Chemical Communications, and ChemSusChem.

He has had an influential role in the expansion of interest and research in ionic liquid systems, his initial paper on ionic liquid/aqueous partitioning (Chem. Commun. 1998, 1765) effectively kick-started interest in applying ionic liquids to clean separations. In 2005 he was awarded the US Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award (Academic Division) for work related to the use of ionic liquids in sustainable technology. This technology was licensed later that year to BASF.

Rogers has co-organized a variety of meetings and symposia on Industrial Applications of Ionic Liquids and he has started a company (525Solutions) to enhance the commercial viability of new technologies. The breadth of educational, research, editorial, and service endeavors gives Rogers a broad perspective on science and engineering research, development, and technology transfer.

See abstract as well as Dr. Rogers Queens University of Belfast homepage, The Center for Green Maufacturing and Quill for further details.

Host: Edward Castner