Education

Courses

• Principles of Chemistry I (CHE-121)
• Organic Chemistry I (CHE-221)
• Organic Chemistry II (CHE-222)
• Inorganic Chemistry (CHE-341)
• Physical Chemistry (CHE-351)
• History & Philosophy of Science (SCI-310)

About

Darren Brouwer is Professor of Chemistry at Redeemer University in Hamilton, Ontario where he teaches chemistry and environmental science, carries out research on developing new methods for structure determination of materials, works with students on monitoring water quality in local watersheds, and ponders the relationships between Christian faith, chemistry, culture making, and creation care. He has studied at Redeemer University College (B.C.S.), University of Guelph (B.Sc.), University of British Columbia (PhD), and Regent College, has held research positions at the University of Southampton and the National Research Council of Canada, and is an adjunct professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at McMaster University.

Research Interests

• Solid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy
• Materials science
• Computational chemistry
• Machine learning in chemistry
• Water quality monitoring of local watersheds
• Developing project based learning approaches for chemistry and environmental science

Research Funding

• NSERC Discovery Development Grant, “Highly integrated NMR crystallography structure determination strategies for difficult-to-characterize materials” 2024-2026
• Canada Water Agency, “Monitoring nutrient and bacterial contamination in the Chedoke and Red Hill Creek watersheds (with Dr. Edward Berkelaar), 2024-2027

Current Research

Understanding the atomic and molecular level structure of materials is of fundamental interest in chemistry and materials science. By understanding the structure of materials, a greater understanding of their functions can be developed. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, a close cousin to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that many are familiar within a medical context, is a powerful tool for elucidating the structural features of materials. I am particularly interested in exploring the ability of NMR spectroscopy to be used for crystallography – the determination of crystal structures – by which the atomic arrangement of materials can be determined.

I am also very interested in local environmental issues and developing ways for our students to engage and address these local issues through project-based learning in our classes, senior research projects, and summer research opportunities. Over the past few years, our analytical chemistry and environmental science classes have been carrying out water quality monitoring projects of a local highly urbanized watershed that drains into an ecologically important wetland, finding that there are quite clear signs of sewage contamination and nutrient pollution. In addition to learning lots about analytical and environmental chemistry, we have been engaging with the City of Hamilton and local environmental stakeholders to find ways to address this problem.

Selected Publications

See Google Scholar for a full list of publications.

D.H. Brouwer. Rapid solid-state 29Si NMR chemical shift refinements of pure silica zeolite frameworks with an improved structure-to-shift correlation Microporous and Mesoporous Materials 2026, 401, 113914.

D.J. Srivastava, M. Venetos, A. McCarthy, P.J. Grandinetti, J.H. Baltisbergen, D.H. Brouwer. Refining siliceous zeolite frameworks with 29Si 2D J-resolved NMR spectroscopy. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 2025, 27, 419-435.

Cui, C.A. Gurwell, D.H. Brouwer, K.J. Sanders, Y. Mozharivskyj, G.R. Goward. Revealing Na+ dynamics in the Na4Sn2Ge5O16 solid electrolyte material using 23Na solid-state NMR spectroscopy and computational methods. Inorganic Chemistry 2025, 64, 19207–19216.

D.H. Brouwer, J.G. Mikolajewski. Revised solid-state 13C NMR peak assignments for cellulose II and cellulose Ibeta from two-dimensional double-quantum dipolar recoupling experiments. Cellulose 2025, 32, 4143-4160.

D.H. Brouwer, J.G. Mikolajewski. Solid-state NMR reveals a structural variation from the Ib polymorphic form in bacterial cellulose. Cellulose 2023, 30, 11341-11356.

D.H. Brouwer, J.G. Mikolajewski. Resolving the discrepancies in reported 13C solid state NMR chemical shifts for native celluloses. Cellulose 2023, 30, 4827-4839.

D.H. Brouwer, J.G. Mikolajewski. A combined solid-state NMR and quantum chemical calculation study of hydrogen bonding in two forms of alpha-D-glucose. Solid State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance 2023, 123, 101848.

D.H. Brouwer. Applications of 29Si NMR spectroscopy . In Comprehensive Inorganic Chemistry III; J. Reedijk and K.R. Poeppelmeier (Eds), Vol 9, pp 107-137, Elsevier, 2023.

D.H. Brouwer, A.L. White. A comprehensive collection of solid-state 31P NMR spectra of aluminophosphate zeolites. Microporous and Mesoporous Materials 2022, 337, 119234.

D.H. Brouwer, C.C. Brouwer, S. Mesa, C.A. Semelhago, E.E. Steckley, M.P.Y. Sun, J.G. Mikolajewski, Ch. Baerlocher. Solid-state NMR spectra of pure silica zeolites for the International Zeolite Association Database of Zeolite Structures.  Microporous and Mesoporous Materials 2020, 297, 110000.

D.H. Brouwer, J. Van Huizen. NMR crystallography of zeolites: How far can we go without diffraction data? Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry 2019, 57, 167-175.

D.H. Brouwer. Better Living Through Chemistry? Comment 2016, online.

Professional Memberships and Associations

• International Zeolite Association Structure Commission
• American Chemical Society
• Canadian Society for Chemistry
• American Crystallographic Association
• Canadian Scientific and Christian Affiliation

Professional Experience

• NSERC Post-Doctoral Research Fellow (2003-2005) with Prof Malcolm Levitt, School of Chemistry, University of Southampton
• Assistant Research Officer (2006-2008) Steacie Institute of Molecular Sciences, National Research Council of Canada
• Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, McMaster University

Related Experience

• Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, McMaster University
• Water quality monitoring of local watersheds (The Story of the Chedoke Watershed)
• Developing project based learning approaches for chemistry and environmental science