David E. Bergbreiter
Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University
Texas, USA
Tentative title
TBA
Texas, USA
Tentative title
TBA
B.S. in Chemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 1970, Ph.D. Chemistry. MIT (Whitesides) in 1974. He started his independent career at Texas A&M in 1974 and is currently a Regents Professor of Chemistry.
The Bergbreiter group’s work in catalysis has focused on developing new ways to use polymers to facilitate homogeneous catalysis. That work included the first development of ‘smart’ catalysts that use the thermoresponsive property of polymers to control exothermic reactions. More recently, his group has focused its attention on developing more sustainable ways to separate, recycle, and use transition metal and organocatalysts using the phase selective solubility of polymer supports. For example, hydrocarbon soluble polyethylene and polyisobutylene supports that are separable after a reaction by a solid/liquid or liquid/liquid biphasic separation effectively and quantitatively separate stable catalysts from products. Most recently, that work has evolved to studies on the use of completely recyclable non-toxic oligomeric solvents, safer solvents’ whose micropolarity is tunable with recyclable polymeric additive.
Selected publications:
The Bergbreiter group’s work in catalysis has focused on developing new ways to use polymers to facilitate homogeneous catalysis. That work included the first development of ‘smart’ catalysts that use the thermoresponsive property of polymers to control exothermic reactions. More recently, his group has focused its attention on developing more sustainable ways to separate, recycle, and use transition metal and organocatalysts using the phase selective solubility of polymer supports. For example, hydrocarbon soluble polyethylene and polyisobutylene supports that are separable after a reaction by a solid/liquid or liquid/liquid biphasic separation effectively and quantitatively separate stable catalysts from products. Most recently, that work has evolved to studies on the use of completely recyclable non-toxic oligomeric solvents, safer solvents’ whose micropolarity is tunable with recyclable polymeric additive.
Selected publications:
- Polyethylene as a nonvolatile solid cosolvent phase for catalyst separation and recovery”, Yanfei Yang, Nilusha Priyadarshani, Tatyana Khamatnurova, Jakkrit Suriboot, and David E. Bergbreiter, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 111, 14714–14717. DOI: 10.1021/ja306719j
- “Using soluble polymers to enforce catalyst phase selective solubility and as anti-leaching agents to facilitate homogeneous catalysis,” Yannan Liang, Mary L. Harrell, and David E. Bergbreiter, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 8084–8087. DOI: 10.1002/ange.201402805
- “Alternatives for Conventional Alkane Solvents,” Mary L. Harrell, Thomas Malinski, Coralys Torres-Lopez, Kimberly Gonzalez, Jakkrit Suriboot, and David E. Bergbreiter, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 14650–14657. DOI:10.1021/jacs.6b07967.
- “Minimizing Solvent Waste in Catalytic Reactions in Highly Recyclable Hydrocarbon Solvents”, Sopida Thavornpradit, James M. Killough, and David E. Bergbreiter, Org. Biomol. Chem. 2020, 18, DOI: 10.1039/D0OB00734J.