Downloaded by MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIV on October 13, 2013 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date: July 25, 2002 | doi: 10.1021/bk-2002-0818.pr001
Preface This book contains the key papers presented at the American Chemical Society ( A C S ) national meeting symposium "Green (or Greener) Industrial Applications of Ionic Liquids," held in San Diego, California, April 1-5, 2001. This symposium was the first open international meeting on the fundamentals and applications of ionic liquids (although a closed NATO-ARW meeting was held in Crete in April 2000). The sessions at the A C S symposium were the best attended at the meeting, a clear marker of the vast current interest in the industrial applications of ionic liquids. Our peak attendance was more than 275, and average attendance for the first four days was more than 180. The meeting was split into 10 sessions (Ionic Liquids in Context, Separations and Engineering, Green Synthesis, Nuclear and Electrochemistry, Ionic Liquid Systems, Properties of Ionic Liquids, Catalysis I, Catalysis II, Structure and Photochemistry, and High-Temperature and Other Systems), running from Sunday morning to Thursday afternoon; more than 60 oral presentations were delivered. Page restrictions have prevented the publication of all the presentations, but we have tried to select a representative subset of the papers. It is amazing that such a variety of topics, of such novelty and interest, could be presented when, a few years earlier, the Gordon Research Conference on molten salts died from lack of interest, and ionic liquids were considered an academic curiosity, of no practical use. Figure 1 shows the trend in publications in this field. The recent steep rise was the reason and justification for holding the meeting and for publishing this book. We felt that a meeting that would both bring together the key players in this burgeoning area and allow the presentation o f material prior to its publication would encourage the growth o f this field even further. Moreover, as the growth of this area can be tied to the potential applications o f ionic liquids to green industrial processes, the symposium was planned to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas between academia and industry. This element o f the meeting was exceptionally successful and encouraged us to plan a second symposium at the fall 2002 A C S national meeting, held in Boston, Massachusetts, August 18-22, 2002. The 2001 meeting would not have been successful without invaluable support from the following academic, industrial, and professional organizations. The symposium was hosted and sponsored by xiii
In Ionic Liquids; Rogers, R., et al.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2002.
Downloaded by MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIV on October 13, 2013 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date: July 25, 2002 | doi: 10.1021/bk-2002-0818.pr001
Figure 1. Publication of papers on ionic liquids and room-temperature molten salts. two subdivisions of the A C S Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Division: Green Chemistry and Engineering, and Separation Science and Technology. Additional financial support for the symposium was received from The University of Alabama Center for Green Manufacturing, The Queen's University Ionic Liquid Laboratory ( Q U I L L ) in Belfast, the U . S . Environmental Protection Agency's Green Chemistry Program, the Green Chemistry Institute, A C R O S , bp Chemical Stream, Covalent Associates, Chevron, Dow Agrosciences, Ozark Fluorine Specialties, S A C H E M , Solvent Innovation, and Union Carbide. In addition, the Department of the Army, Army Research Office, sponsored the technology review, the last chapter of this book. We are indebted to these organizations and the individuals who represent them for their foresight in sponsoring this area, and we look forward to continuing to work with them as the field develops.
Robin D. Rogers
Kenneth R. Seddon
Center for Green Manufacturing B o x 870336 The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, A L 35487 (Email)
[email protected] (Phone) +1-205-348-4323 (Fax) +1-205-348-0823 ( U R L ) http://bama.ua.edu/~rdrogers/
The Q U I L L Research Centre The Queen's University of Belfast Stranmillis Road Belfast B T 9 5 A G Northern Ireland, United Kingdom (Email)
[email protected] (Phone) +44-28-90335420 (Fax)+44-28-90665297 ( U R L ) http://quill.qub.ac.uk/
xiv In Ionic Liquids; Rogers, R., et al.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2002.
