Marie Thomas

Associate Professor of Chemistry

Marie Thomas in lab

Environmental chemistry. Ionic liquids and hybrid materials

Co-Director of the Environmental Science Program
Natural Science Department
Fordham University Lincoln Center
113 W 60th Street Room LL815E
Email: [email protected]

  • I received my Bachelor's in Chemistry from Queens College, CUNY, my Master's and Phd degrees from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. 

  • The focus of the Thomas research lab is the synthesis and characterization of ionic liquids for environmental remediation. Past studies focused on the use of ionic liquids for the processing of the biorenewable polymer cellulose. With our collaborator Dr. Ipsita Banerjee in the Department of Chemistry at FCRH, we're developing ion gels (ionic liquid hybrid materials) that could be used to purify petroleum fuels. We are also working with Dr. Alma Rodenas-Ruano at FCLC, to study the impact of ionic liquids on neuronal development and behavior of marine organisms such as zebrafish and horseshoe crabs. 

  • NSCI 1020 Physical Sciences: Today's World 
    NSCI 1321 General Chemistry I Lecture
    NSCI 1322 General Chemistry II Lecture
    NSCI 1331 General Chemistry I Laboratory
    NSCI 1332 General Chemistry II Laboratory

  • M.S. Whalen, R.E. Daso, M.F. Thomas, I.A. Banerjee. “Interactions of betanium and imidazolium-based ionic liquids with peptide amphiphiles and their implications in the formation of nanohybrid composite gels”, Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology, 2021, 97, 488-504. 

    R.E. Daso, L.J. Osborn, M.F. Thomas, I.A. Banerjee. "Development of nanoscale hybrids from ionic liquid-peptide amphiphile assemblies as new functional materials", ACS Omega, 2020, 5, 24, 14543 - 14554.

    B. Zheng, C. Harris, S. Bhatia, M. F. Thomas,. “Solubility and rheology of cellulose in ionic liquids composed of imidazolium cation and phosphate anions”, to Polymers for Advanced Technologies, 2019, 30(7), 1751 - 1758.

    M. F. Thomas, A. Chen, M. Yuan, A. Agababayev, C. Harris. “Dissolution of cellulose in dimethylphosphate ionic liquid solutions”, Phosphorous, Sulfur and Silicon and the Related Elements, 2019, 194, 357 – 358.

    R.M. Musat, R.A. Crowell, D.E. Polyanskiy, M.F. Thomas, J.F. Wishart, Y. Katsumura, K. Takahashi. “Ultrafast transient absorption spectrum of the room temperature ionic liquid 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide: confounding effects of photo-degradation”, Radiation Physics and Chemistry, 2015, 117, 78-82.

    S.I. Lall-Ramnarine, M.F. Thomas, M. Jalees, F. Payen, S. Boursiquot, S. Ramati, N. Zmich, D. Ewko, and J.F. Wishart, “Probing the physical properties, synthesis and cellulose dissolution ability of dialkylphosphate ionic liquids”, Phosphorous, Sulfur and Silicon and the Related Elements, 2015, 190, 891 - 895

    M. F. Thomas, L. Li, J.M. Handley-Pendleton, D. van der Lelie, J.J. Dunn, and J.F. Wishart, “Enzyme activity in dialkylphosphate ionic liquids”, Bioresources, 2011, 11200 – 11203.

    R. Engel, I. Ghani, D. Montenegro, M. F. Thomas , B. Klaritch-Vrana, A. Castaño,  L. Friedman, J. Leb, L. Rothman, H. Lee, C. Capodiferro, D. Ambinder, E. Cere, C. Awad, F. Sheikh, J. Rizzo, L. Nisbett, E. Testani and K. Melkonian, “Polycationic Glycosides”, Molecules, 2011, 16, 1508-1518.