Time: July 25, 2011  9:00 AM

Location: 6040 of the educational complex

Prof. Robin Don Rogers  

The University of Alabama

Abstract: Although ionic liquids (ILs) comprise a tremendous family of compounds, there are several properties that are general among ILs yet uncommon in molecular liquids. The most well-known property is the low vapor pressure shown by most ILs. This has resulted in ILs being investigated as safer and more environmentally friendly alternatives to volatile organic compounds.  However, ILs also possess other properties such as unusual solvating power, short range order, and a tendency to resist crystallization on cooling which can result in both novel findings and unforeseen challenges when ILs are newly applied to a field. One such field from which ILs have received much attention is the processing of spent nuclear fuel. In much of this work hydrophobic ILs have been used as nonaqueous phases in extractions, but there has been less research into the fundamental chemistry of actinides in ILs. Because the environment in an IL consists solely of ions, ILs are particularly interesting for metal chemistry. The metal ion can interact with counterions without the interference of solvents. However it can be a challenge to access this chemistry because metal salts are often insoluble in ILs.  Furthermore traditional evaporation-based crystallization techniques are not usable with ILs. This presentation will dsicuss our research into the reactivity of ILs with f-elements, including crystal structures of the first uranyl dicyanamide and uranyl imidzole complexes to be synthesized from an ionic liquid.