Carbon dioxide is one of the first chemical compounds kids learn about.
Known in chemical shorthand as CO2, it's as common as each breath we exhale. Joe DeSimone, Mary Ann Smith professor of chemistry and chemical engineering, led a team of University scientists that developed detergents that would dissolve in liquefied carbon dioxide. That discovery led to developing machines to clean clothes in CO2. That provides a cleaning system that is better for the environment, poses less risk to people's health and, in most cases, cleans clothes better, DeSimone said. On Feb. 5, DeSimone and his colleagues opened the first commercial cleaner to use one of the new machines.