LHS grad studied ionic liquids

Clarkson University senior Bradley M. Buchheit, of Lebanon, is among only 70 students selected to participate in the inaugural "Independent Sector Undergraduate Research Exposition" Jan. 22 at the Legislative Office Building in Albany, N.Y. Buchheit is majoring in chemical engineering at the New York university.

The one-day event brings together college students, faculty, and New York State legislators to showcase high quality research presentations. Buchheit's research, performed with Professor Ruth E. Baltus of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, studied the effect of water and light alcohols on the viscosity of a variety of room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs).

An RTIL is an organic salt that remains in a liquid state over a wide range of temperatures near room temperature. Because these liquids have no vapor pressure, they may provide a "green" replacement for conventional volatile organic solvents. By replacing conventional solvents with RTILs, the need for protective breathing gear is eliminated and the worry about vapor releases no longer needs to be addressed. In order to develop industrial applications that utilize RTILs, physical and chemical property data must be known; but the current understanding of RTIL properties is limited.

Buchheit's findings suggest a dramatic decrease in viscosity as a result of the addition of water and other light alcohols to an RTIL. Buchheit also found that RTILs containing specific anions were more sensitize to changes in viscosity than

others.