Kenneth Richard Seddon, Queen’s University Belfast, UK, passed away on January 21, 2018. Seddon was a pioneer of ionic liquid research and green chemistry. His laboratory cooperated with companies such as Petronas and Proctor & Gamble to develop processes, e.g, to produce mercury-free natural gas or for a delayed release of fragrances from ionic liquids.
Kenneth R. Seddon, born in Liverpool, UK, in 1950, studied chemistry at Liverpool University, where he completed his Ph.D. in 1973. He received a Research Fellowship at the University of Oxford, UK. In 1982, he joined the University of Sussex, Brighton, UK, as Reader in Experimental Chemistry. In 1993, Seddon was appointed Chair of Inorganic Chemistry at Queen’s University Belfast. He also was the founder and Director of the Queen’s University Ionic Liquid Laboratories (QUILL).
Among many other honors, Seddon was admitted as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2015. He was Professor Catedrático Visitante at the Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica (ITQB), New University of Lisbon, Portugal, and Visiting Professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Among other contributions, he served as Associate Editor of the Australian Journal of Chemistry.
Selected Publications
- Ionic Liquids UnCOILed: Critical Expert Overviews,
N. V. Plechkova, K. R. Seddon (Eds.),
Wiley 2015.
ISBN: 978-0-470-07470-1 - Molten Salts and Ionic Liquids: Never the Twain?,
M. Gaune-Escard, K. R. Seddon (Eds.)
Wiley 2010.
ISBN: 978-0-471-77392-4 - Applications of ionic liquids in the chemical industry,
N. V. Plechkova, K. R. Seddon,
Chem. Soc. Rev. 2008, 37, 123–150.
https://doi.org/10.1039/b006677j - The distillation and volatility of ionic liquids,
M. J. Earle, J. M. S. S. Esperança, M. A. Gilea, J. N. Canongia Lopes, L. P. N. Rebelo, J. W. Magee, K. R. Seddon, J. A. Widegren,
Nature 2006, 439, 831–834.
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04451 - Ionic Liquids—Solvents of the Future?,
R. D. Rogers, K. R. Seddon,
Science 2003, 302, 792–793.
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1090313 - 3.0.CO;2-0″ target=”_blank”>https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0290(20000720)69:2<227::AID-BIT12>3.0.CO;2-0
- Influence of chloride, water, and organic solvents on the physical properties of ionic liquids,
K. R. Seddon, A. Stark, M.-J. Torres,
Pure Appl. Chem. 2000.
https://doi.org/10.1351/pac200072122275 - Ionic liquids. Green solvents for the future,
M. J. Earle, K. R. Seddon,
Pure Appl. Chem. 2000.
https://doi.org/10.1351/pac200072071391 - Molybdenum chloro complexes in room-temperature chloroaluminate ionic liquids: stabilization of hexachloromolybdate(2-) and hexachloromolybdate(3-),
T. B. Scheffler, C. L. Hussey, K. R. Seddon, C. M. Kear, P. D. Armitage,
Inorg. Chem. 1983, 22, 2099–2100.
https://doi.org/10.1021/ic00157a001
