Category Archives: Faculty

Professor Emphasizes Importance of Chemistry’s ‘Hot Topic’ on an International Stage

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University associate professor of chemistry Ram Mohan is helping fellow chemists worldwide. Mohan’s lab is part of a team exploring processes in a new class of solvents.

Mohan and his sabbatical host, Dr. Janet Scott of The Center for Chemistry in Monash University, Australia, recently published a review of the reactivity of ionic liquids. Ionic liquids have been a hot, new topic in chemistry over the last several years. Industrial scientists at such companies as BASF and Merck have been integrating ionic liquids into their work, looking for safer ways to produce chemicals. “Ionic liquids are opening doors for industry,” said Mohan, who has been working with the liquids for the past two years. “Companies are developing new uses of ionic liquids, such as lubricants and batteries.”

In the past, reviews on ionic liquids have focused on their role as a reaction medium. “This is one of the first comprehensive reviews that focuses on the possibility that ionic liquids can participate in reactions and give unexpected products,” said Mohan.

Most people are familiar with ionic compounds, the most common being table salt. Ionic liquids are a similar substance that remain in liquid form at room temperature. “In order to have salt be a liquid, you would have to heat it up to 800 degrees,” said Mohan. “With ionic liquids, you are talking about the same type of substance, but they are liquid without having to heat them.” Traditional organic solvents are volatile and pose a respiratory hazard, but ionic liquids are practically non-volatile and do not pose a respiratory hazard.

Until now, chemists assumed ionic liquids were simply a medium for reactions, much like a football field where the action occurred. Mohan, Scott, a leading international expert on ionic liquids, and Shahana Afrose Chowdhury, a Ph.D. student at Monash University of Melbourne, Australia, were invited to write the review in a leading international chemistry journal, Tetrahedron. “Several reports in the literature have clearly shown that ionic liquid participates in chemical reactions,” said Mohan. That means chemists who work with them may be getting unexpected products in their reactions. “The study helps them better understand what they are working with,” said Mohan.

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IWU Faculty Member Named Provost and Dean of the College at Lycoming College

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Thomas Griffiths, the Earl H. and Marion A. Beling Professor of Natural Science at Illinois Wesleyan, has been named Provost and Dean of the College at Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pa. The appointment was announced Monday by Lycoming President James E. Douthat.

Griffiths was selected to become Provost at Lycoming from more than 100 candidates following a four-month national search. He also will serve as a Professor of Biology when his new appointment begins July 1, 2007.

“Dr. Griffiths brings many talents and experiences with him from Illinois Wesleyan University,” Douthat said. “The combination of his years in the classroom, his scholarly research and his administrative experiences has prepared him well for his new role as Lycoming’s chief academic officer.”

Griffiths began teaching at Illinois Wesleyan in 1981. His administrative roles at the University have included Acting Dean of the Faculty, Associate Dean of the Faculty and Director of the Andrew W. Mellon Center for Teaching and Curriculum Development.

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Chemistry Professor Receives National Science Foundation Grant

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University Associate Professor of Chemistry Ram Mohan has received a $380,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to continue his groundbreaking work on green chemistry. It is the largest grant in the history of the chemistry department.

The fact that NSF bestowed the grant is unique, said Mohan. “It is extremely unusual for a four-year school to receive a renewal grant,” he said. “The grants typically go to larger, research schools.” The money is a renewal grant for Mohan’s research. He received a $205,000 grant in 2003.

The grant is particularly exciting for Illinois Wesleyan, because it will enable Mohan to create a post-doctorate research fellowship, the first for the University. “We are delighted that a postdoctoral researcher will be joining Dr. Mohan’s team,” said Rebecca Roesner, IWU chemistry department chair. “This highly trained associate will allow Dr. Mohan to extend his research in new directions.”

Mohan, a member of the IWU faculty since 1996, works to discover environmentally friendly processes for chemists to use at pharmaceutical and other companies. “We do not create the life-saving drugs or the pesticides,” said Mohan. “We develop the processes that can be used to make products in a way that will not harm the environment.”

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