Bert Chandler
Bert D. Chandler , Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Chemistry
| Education | Subjects Taught | |
|---|---|---|
Postdoc, Dept. of Chemical Engineering - Univ. of S. Carolina Ph.D. Inorganic Chemistry - University of Minnesota B.S. in Chemistry, Summa Cum Laude - Georgia Southern University |
Inorganic Chemistry General Chemistry Advanced Kinetics Senior Integrated Laboratory |
I am interested in using chemical synthesis and analysis tools to understand practical problems in catalysis and materials synthesis, particularly in the areas of energy research, biorenewables, heterogeneous catalysis, and nanotechnology.
Dr. Chandler moved to Minneapolis, MN and the University of Minnesota to complete his Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry under the direction of Prof. Lou Pignolet. His graduate thesis involved the preparation of bimetallic catalysts from inorganic and organometallic cluster compounds. He was heavily involved as a teaching assistant for the general chemistry lecture and laboratory courses, as well as the undergraduate advanced inorganic chemistry lab, and a couple graduate level inorganic chemistry courses.
The summer after defending his thesis, Dr. Chandler served as a lecturer for the nursing major chemistry course. He then began a postdoctoral fellowship working with Prof. Mike Amiridis in the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of South Carolina. He went to Columbia, SC to learn some engineering, particularly the basics of reactor systems and in-situ infrared spectroscopy. His position was funded by BASF, and his primary project involved studying proprietary sorbents that remove trace amounts of S and As from polymerization catalysts feeds.
Dr. Chandler has been at Trinity since the fall 2001. Students in his research lab work on projects in the areas of environmental heterogeneous catalysis, nanoparticle chemistry, and reaction kinetics. Away from campus, he is still plays competitive volleyball, taking advantage of the long outdoor season in Texas. He enjoys traveling, and is starting to take up golf.
Publications
Chandler, BD; Long, C; Gilbertson, JD; Vijayaraghavan, G; Stevenson, KJ; Pursell, CJ; "Improving Oxygen Activation Over Supported Au Catalysts Through the Controlled Preparation of Bimetallic Ni-Au Nanoparticles" The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2010, v114 p11498-11508.
Chandler, BD; Lee, J-K; Kung, HH; & Kung, MC "Dendrimers in Catalysis" Invited book chapter in Design of Heterogeneous Catalysts. New Approaches based on Synthesis, Characterization, and Modeling (Umit Ozkan, Ed.), p59-81, 2009, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, Germany.
Greer RM; Scruggs, BA; May, RA; Chandler, BD; "Patterning High Surface Area Silica with Lysozyme: Adsorption Kinetics, Fluorescence Quenching, and Protein Readsorption Studies to Evaluate the Templated Surface" Langmuir, 2009, v25 p7161-7168.
Hartshorn, H; Pursell, CJ; Chandler, BD; "Adsorption of CO on Supported Gold Nanoparticle Catalysts: A Comparative Study." The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2009, v113 p10718-10725.
Long, C; Gilbertson, JD; Vijayaraghavan, G; Stevenson, KJ; Pursell, CJ; Chandler, BD; "Kinetic Evaluation of Highly Active Supported Gold Catalysts Prepared from Monolayer Protected Clusters: An Experimental Michaelis-Menten Approach for Determining the Oxygen Binding Constant During CO Oxidation Catalysis" J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2008, v130 p 10103-10115.
Auten, BJ; Hahn, BP; Vijayaraghavan, G; Stevenson, KJ; Chandler, BD; "Preparation and Characterization of 3 nm Magnetic NiAu Nanoparticles" Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2008, v112 p5365-5372.
Community Involvement
Chair, Admissions Advisory Committee
Health Professions Advisory Committee
Interim Chair, Chemistry (Fall 2010)
Catalysis as a Field
"Catalysis [is] the enabling discipline in energy supply and conversion, in the synthesis of fuels and chemicals, and in our thoughtful care for the environment; it remains an essential contributor to quality of life and to sustainable growth in the world at large." Prof. Enrique Iglesia, UC Berkeley
I like this statement because it focuses on both the practical aspects and larger value of catalysis as a field. One of the reasons catalysis is so important is that it is involved in so many processes that impact our lives every day: energy supply and conversion, chemical synthesis (this includes synthesis of pharmaceuticals), and environmental chemistry. In most cases, a catalyst provides a new, lower energy reaction mechanism that is not available to the reactants by themselves. This is what makes catalysis an "enabling discipline. It allows us to do chemical reactions that we would otherwise be impossible, and do them in a controlled way. As the world looks to develop new chemistry, like finding ways to use plants and biomass to generate fuels and chemicals, we will continue to develop new catalysts in order to make these processes, clean, efficient, and inexpensive. This is how catalysis contributes to our overall quality of life and why continued advances will be necessary for sustainable growth.
Dr. Chandler's research group is primarily interested in developing fundamental understanding of catalysts and catatalytic processes, and ultimately in developing new catalysts for energy supply and environmental chemistry. We are developing new nanoparticle synthesis protocols that are tailored to heterogeneous catalyst preparation, in our efforts to discover new ways of preparing unique catalysts. In doing so, we are trying to understand how nanoparticle structure and composition affect catalytic properties for important reactions in energy and biomass conversion, under the broad umbrella of environmental catalysis.
Catalysis is an inherently multi-disciplinary field, which means that there is something for everyone: chemical synthesis, Inorganic chemistry, Organic chemistry, Physical chemistry, and some Engineering. We do a lot of nanoparticle synthesis, and study the individual synthetic steps. We are also doing a good bit of organic chemistry, studying organic reactions to help understand how our nanoparticles change under different conditions. We are developing ways to employ enzyme reactions and terminology to help understand nanoparticle catalysts. And, of course, we do a number of basic physical and inorganic chemistry measurements to quantify and understand the differences between catalysts.
Contact Information
Department of Chemistry
Trinity University
One Trinity Place
San Antonio, TX 78212
210-999-7557
bert.chandler@trinity.edu
