Chemistry Seminar - Mechanistic Insights into Small Molecule Activation over Gold Catalysts
Mechanistic Insights into Small Molecule Activation over Gold Catalysts
Dr. Bert Chandler
Department of Chemistry
Trinity University
Abstract:
Supported gold nanoparticles are now well known to be exceptionally active low temperature CO oxidation catalysts and have long been examined for the Preferential Oxidation of CO in H2 feeds. Additionally, Au has desirable selectivity in a number of selective and partial-hydrogenation reactions; however, hydrogenation activity is notoriously low. This seminar will focus on our efforts to develop kinetic tools to better understand supported gold catalysts, particularly our developing mechanistic understanding of both the CO and H2 oxidation reactions. We apply a number of mechanistic chemistry techniques, such as Hammett studies, kinetic isotope effects, and Michaelis-Menten kinetics, to better understand how support effects and water tune the chemistry of Au nanoparticle surfaces. These studies, combined with collaborative density functional theory calculations, have led us to a deeper understanding of O2 and H2 activation over Au and significant advances in CO PrOx catalysis. We further extend this work to alkyne partial-hydrogenation, where the addition of Au to supported Ni catalysts dramatically improves catalyst performance.
Speaker Bio:
Bert Chandler earned a BS in Chemistry from Georgia Southern University (1994) and a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Minnesota (1999), working with Prof. Lou Pignolet. He went on to a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of South Carolina with Prof. Michael Amiridis. He began a faculty position at Trinity University in San Antonio, TX, in 2001 and is currently Professor of Chemistry. He has served as the chair of the Southwest Catalysis Society, on the Board of Directors of the Organic Reactions Catalysis Society, and on the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Research Corporation for Science Advancement. His long term research interests are in nanoparticle synthesis and properties, particularly as applied to heterogeneous catalysts and reaction mechanisms at the metal-support interface. This has included applying various physical organic chemistry techniques and Michaelis-Menten kinetics to understand changes to nanoparticle catalysts under reaction conditions.
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This is an RIT Only Event
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No