Keynote Address: Polymerizable Ionic Liquids with Novel Properties Including Minimal Oxygen Inhibition

Abstract Body: We have prepared a novel class of free radically polymerizable monomers described as polymerizable ionic liquids (PILs) and evaluated a variety their properties and potential utility. Ionic liquids (ILs) are ambient temperature organic liquid salts that have attracted considerable recent attention because of their unique properties such as high solvency for organic and inorganic materials, low volatility, high ionic conductivity, and thermal stability. We have synthesized and examined potential utility of PILs for a variety of dental applications including; coatings, glass ionomers, adhesives and composites. An unexpected property of these PILs is that their photopolymerizations typically occur with minimal oxygen inhibition; a very unusual property for (meth)acrylic monomers. We have identified several classes of synthetically practical PILs monomers that serve as polymerizable solvents that simultaneously provide an array of tunable physical, mechanical and biological properties. This presentation we will detail our preliminary exciting results with these novel monomers.