This project undertakes an interactive program of research and education between chemists and engineers at Georgia Tech in Atlanta and at the RWTH in Aachen in Germany to formulate a paradigm for designing sustainable reaction solvents. Ionic liquids have significant potential as alternative solvents: they are involatile, they can be made nontoxic, and they frequently are powerful catalyst promoters - but product separation and purification have always remained a challenge. With reversible ionic liquid systems modulated by carbon dioxide, they can be turned "on" and "off" at will to yield enormous changes in solvent properties. This attribute will be exploited to afford a synergy of reaction and purification that will be both green and economical. A range of reactions where these types of solvents can be beneficial in coupling reactions and separations, as well as methodology to develop new such solvents for specific applications, will be investigated.
With this award, the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program is supporting the research of Professor Charles L. Liotta of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Professor Charles A. Eckert of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. This award coordinates with a collaborative award funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) for Professor Walter Leitner, Institut für Technische Chemie und Makromolekulare Chemie, RWTH-Aachen. Professors Liotta, Eckert, and Leitner will be studying the properties and applications of smart ionic liquids. These ionic liquids allow reactions to be performed under sustainable reaction conditions and they allow easier product separation. They offer both an ideal vehicle for the education of environmental scientists and engineers and the potential for more sustainable processes.
