Two things you need to know about Jacqueline Bennett: she hates waiting for things to boil, and she鈥檚 fascinated by things that glow.
Both led her to invent a new chemical process to make imines, a class of compounds used in everything from rust inhibitors to cholesterol-lowering drugs. In July 2014, she received a United States Patent for her discovery, which is safer, faster and more environmentally friendly than traditional methods.
Bennett became interested in green chemistry by necessity. Pregnant and faced with the prospect of breathing toxic vapors known to cross the placenta, she began looking for alternative solvents to use in her organic chemistry labs.
She discovered her patented process while testing an imine synthesis method that didn鈥檛 require boiling. The reaction formed a gold, glitter-like compound鈥攕o fast that she almost missed it while taking notes. Since then, Bennett and the students in her undergraduate research group, BLONDES (Building a Legacy of Outstanding New Developments and Excellence in Science), have made more than 200 compounds using the patented process. Her favorites are those that glow under UV light from the small flashlight she carries around.
For Bennett, it鈥檚 the thrill of discovery and the challenge of problem-solving that make chemistry fun, and she does her best to show students that 鈥渃hemistry is all around us.鈥 For example, in one class she had students combine five household compounds with water, watch the resulting mixture turn fluorescent blue, and test how long it took for the fluorescence to 鈥渢urn off鈥 in relation to the quantity of particular ingredients.
She鈥檚 always looking for the next cool thing. After reading about sonoluminescence on the treadmill one morning, she started working with a colleague to build a 鈥渞ay gun鈥 that would shoot sound waves at chemical compounds and make them glow.
鈥淚 like color, I like sound,鈥 she says, 鈥渁nd I like stuff that other people haven鈥檛 done.鈥