Christian Reichardt obtained his Ph.D. in 1962 under the tutelage of Prof. K. Dimroth at the university of Marburg, and completed his Habilitation in 1967. Since 1971 he has been Professor of Organic Chemistry at the Philipps University Marburg. In 1988 he was visiting professor at the University of Barcelona, Spain, and 1998 at the University of Bratislava, Slovak Republic, and 2000 at the University of Oita/Japan. He has authored and co-authored more than 170 papers and patents, as well as two books. For his book on Solvent Effects he received in 1989 the literary prize of the "Fonds der Chemischen Industrie" in Frankfurt (Main). In 2000, he received the Marie-Sklodowska-Curie-Medal of the Polish Chemical Society.

Tom Welton studied at the University of Sussex, graduating with a BSc (Hons) in Chemistry in 1985 and completed his DPhil, under the guidance of Prof. Seddon, in 1990. His interest in ionic liquids dates back to this time and has continued throughout his career. In 1993 he was awarded the prestigious Lloyd's of London Tercentenary Foundation fellowship, which he chose to take up at Imperial College. He has remained there, initially as a Lecturer, but now as a Professor in Sustainable Chemistry. He is the 2007 Christopher Ingold Lecturer awarded for excellence in physical organic chemistry. Since August 2007 he is head of the department of Chemistry at Imperial College.