Article: Ionic solvent.(Brief Article)

A working solution?

BESIDES being a substance that could turn lead into gold and confer eternal life, the philosophers' stone that the alchemists sought had a third improbable incarnation--a universal solvent. Modern chemistry is less ambitious, but only slightly so. Chemical reactions take place far more easily in solution because the molecules that are supposed to react together can mix and come into contact. It therefore galls chemists that many substances are so hard to dissolve, meaning that whole swathes of potentially useful reactions are difficult or impossible to carry out. What is needed are better solvents.

Ken Seddon, a researcher at ...

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