2018 Ionic Liquids Gordon Research Conference

Major Goals Organizing a Gordon Research Conference involves extensive communication with the research community to identify important issues at the frontiers of the field, and solicit suggestions for speakers and discussion leaders to participate in the conference. The Chair then contacts prospective participants to invite them to talk and discuss the nature of their contributions. The Chair then communicates the topics and aims of the conference through web pages, contact with relevant international professional bodies and email to members of the research community around the world to encourage applications for participation in the conference. The Chair is then responsible for assessing and accepting the applications and fielding a host of questions both concerning the technical content and practical aspects of conference participation. Accomplishments Ionic liquids have been known for over a century, but they spent much of that time in relative scientific obscurity. Yet, beginning around 1998 interest in these unorthodox salts exploded, and in the intervening period some 85,000 papers have been published on the topic a truly remarkable, near-unprecedented rate of development. During these past twenty years we have accumulated an impressive store of data pertaining to ionic liquids, and we have begun to use them on large scales in real-world applications. Even so, many with experience in the field will attest that what is understood about them is still dwarfed by what is not yet understood. Likewise, the degree to which they have been harnessed in practical applications continues to be dwarfed by their potential for use in others. To move beyond this here and now towards tomorrow, it is vital to appreciate that ionic liquids are not a technological end unto themselves, but rather an enabling technology of truly remarkable scope.