EYES ON IONIC LIQUIDS: NATO workshop examines the industrial potential of green chemistry using room-temperature 'designer solvents'

Over the past two years, room-temperature ionic liquids have generated much excitement among some sections of the chemistry community for their potential as green "designer solvents." But to what extent can these liquids be used in industrial processes and in particular in the development of clean technologies? A North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) advanced research workshop, "Green Industrial Applications of Ionic Liquids," held in Heraklion, Crete, last month, aimed to provide some answers to this question by bringing together chemists and chemical engineers from academia and industry with expertise in ionic liquids and in green chemistry and engineering. "The workshop is the first ever international meeting devoted to room-temperature ionic liquids," noted ionic liquids expert Kenneth R. Seddon, chemistry professor at Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland. "And it is the first time representatives from industry and universities have had an opportunity to express their views in open foru...