Ilan Benjamin

About

Ilan Benjamin is a Distinguished Professor in the Division of Physical & Biological Sciences at UC Santa Cruz, specializing in theoretical chemistry and computational modeling. His research focuses on the microscopic dynamics of chemical reactions in the condensed phase, including chemical reactions in bulk solutions and at surfaces. His work aims to understand the dynamic structural and energetic changes in the medium that drive chemical reactions and how the medium influences the intrinsic chemical forces from their gas-phase values. To achieve this, he employs computer simulation methods such as molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations, often in close conjunction with experimental results like time-resolved spectroscopy and kinetic measurements. His recent research has concentrated on the study of chemical dynamics at fluid interfaces, including liquid/vapor, liquid/liquid, and liquid/solid interfaces, motivated by their fundamental and practical importance. He is also involved in developing new simulation techniques, particularly for studying electronic transitions in solutions and surface reactions, as well as more efficient methods for simulating complex macromolecular systems. His work includes creating simple analytical models to capture essential physical properties and to provide a clear language for describing complex data. Throughout his career, he has received recognition such as the title of Distinguished Professor and fellowships from the American…

Research topics

• Chemistry
• Organic chemistry
• Inorganic chemistry
• Materials science
• Physics
• Environmental science
• Mechanics
• Chromatography
• Engineering
• Environmental chemistry

Selected publications

• Nanoscale view of assisted ion transport across the liquid–liquid interface

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2018-03-12 · 114 citations

  articleOpen access

  During solvent extraction, amphiphilic extractants assist the transport of metal ions across the liquid-liquid interface between an aqueous ionic solution and an organic solvent. Investigations of the role of the interface in ion transport challenge our ability to probe fast molecular processes at liquid-liquid interfaces on nanometer-length scales. Recent development of a thermal switch for solvent extraction has addressed this challenge, which has led to the characterization by X-ray surface s…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Antagonistic Role of Aqueous Complexation in the Solvent Extraction and Separation of Rare Earth Ions

  ACS Central Science · 2021 · 42 citations

  Solvent extraction is used widely for chemical separations and environmental remediation. Although the kinetics and efficiency of this process rely upon the formation of ion-extractant complexes, it has proven challenging to identify the location of ion-extractant complexation within the solution and its impact on the separation. Here, we use tensiometry and X-ray scattering to characterize the surface of aqueous solutions of lanthanide chlorides and the water-soluble extractant bis(2-ethylhexyl…

  PublisherDOI

• On the mechanisms of ion adsorption to aqueous interfaces: air-water vs. oil-water

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2022 · 28 citations

  adsorption to the air-water and graphene-water interfaces, wherein a favorable enthalpy change was the main driving force, against an unfavorable entropy change.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Transfer of an erbium ion across the water/dodecane interface: Structure and thermodynamics via molecular dynamics simulations

  Chemical Physics Letters · 2019-10-05 · 19 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Relevance of Surface Adsorption and Aqueous Complexation for the Separation of Co(II), Ni(II), and Fe(III)

  The Journal of Physical Chemistry B · 2023-04-05 · 17 citations

  article

  During the solvent extraction of metal ions from an aqueous to an organic phase, organic-soluble extractants selectively target aqueous-soluble ions for transport into the organic phase. In the case of extractants that are also soluble in the aqueous phase, our recent studies of lanthanide ion-extractant complexes at the surface of aqueous solutions suggested that ion-extractant complexation in the aqueous phase can hinder the solvent extraction process. Here, we investigate a similar phenomenon…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Molecular Dynamics of Chemical Reactions and Interactions at Liquid/Liquid Interfaces

  NSF · $392k · 2014–2019

• Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Chemical Reactions and Interactions at Liquid Interfaces

  NSF · $366k · 2004–2009

• Molecular dynamics simulations of chemical reactions and interactions at liquid interfaces

  NSF · $442k · 2008–2013

Frequent coauthors

• Mark L. Schlossman

  University of Illinois Chicago

  31 shared

• Binhua Lin

  University of Chicago

  29 shared

• Petr Vanýsek

  Brno University of Technology

  24 shared

• Mati Meron

  University of Chicago

  24 shared

• Guangming Luo

  University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

  22 shared

• Jaesung Yoon

  Gilead Sciences (United States)

  22 shared

• David G. Schultz

  Technical University of Denmark

  19 shared

• Šárka Málková

  19 shared

Awards & honors

• Distinguished professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry (2016)
• Fellow, American Physical Society (2013)
• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science…

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