Dr. Darren Brouwer

Professor of Chemistry


Phone: (905) 648-2139   Ext:4240

Email: dbrouwer@redeemer.ca

Office: 221D

Programs: Chemistry, Biochemistry

Education

Ph.D. (2003), Chemistry, University of British Columbia
Dissertation: Location, Disorder, and Dynamics of Guest Species in Zeolite Frameworks Studied by Solid State NMR and X-ray Diffraction.

Bachelor of Science (1997), Honours Chemistry, University of Guelph

Bachelor of Christian Studies (1997), Liberal Arts & Science, Redeemer University College

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 College 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 (Ph.D.), 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. He and his wife Jessica live in downtown Hamilton with their three children who are learning to love birds, books, and bicycles.

Research Interests

  • Solid-State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
  • Materials Science
  • Computational Chemistry
  • Structural Chemistry
  • Water quality monitoring of local watersheds
  • Developing project based learning approaches for chemistry and environmental science

Research Funding

  • NSERC Discovery Grant, “New NMR crystallography approaches for structure determination of difficult-to-characterize materials” 2016-2021.
  • Great Lakes Protection Initiative, Environment and Climate Change Canada,“Monitoring Nutrients and Bacterial Contamination in Chedoke Creek and Red Hill Creek” (with Dr. Edward Berkelaar), 2020-2021.

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 citations page for a full list of publications.

D.H. Brouwer. Applications of silicon-29 NMR spectroscopy. In Comprehensive Inorganic Chemistry III. J. Reedijk and K. Poppelmeier (eds.), Elsevier, 2022, in press.

D.H. Brouwer, A.L. White. A Comprehensive Collection of Solid-State 31P NMR Spectra of Aluminophosphate Zeolites. Microporous and Mesoporous Materials 2022, 337, 11924 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micromeso.2022.111934

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.

G.Y. Foran, D.H. Brouwer, G.R. Goward. Quantifying proton dynamics in phosphate solid acids by 1H double quantum NMR spectroscopy. Journal of Physical Chemistry C 2017, 121, 25641-25650.

D.H. Brouwer, S. Cadars, K. Hotke, J. Van Huizen, N. Van Huizen. Structure determination of a partially ordered layered silicate material with an NMR crystallography approach. Acta Crystallographica Section C: Structural Chemistry 2017, 73, 184-190.

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

Y. Zan, D.H. Brouwer, G.R. Goward. 19F Double quantum NMR spectroscopy: A new tool for probing dynamics in proton-conducting fluorinated polymer materials. Macromolecules 2016, 49, 7331-7339.

H. Fenniri, G.A. Tikhomirov, D.H. Brouwer, S. Bouatra, M. El Bakkari, Z. Yan, J.-Y. Cho, T. Yamazaki. High field solid-state NMR spectroscopy investigation of 15N-labeled rosette nanotubes: Hydrogen bond network and channel-bound water. Journal of American Chemical Society 2016, 138, 6115–6118.

D.H. Brouwer and M.A. Horvath. Minimizing the effects of RF inhomogeneity and phase transients allows resolution of two peaks in the 1H CRAMPS NMR spectrum of adamantane. Solid State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance 2015, 71, 30-40.

D.H. Brouwer and M.A. Horvath. A simulated annealing approach for solving zeolite crystal structures from two-dimensional NMR correlation spectra. Solid State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance 2015, 65, 89-98.

S. Cadars, M. Allix, D.H. Brouwer, R. Shayib, M. Suchomel, M.N. Garaga, A. Rakhmatullin, A.W. Burton, S.I. Zones, D. Massiot, B.F. Chmelka. Long- and short-range constraints for the structure determination of layered silicates with stacking disorder. Chemistry of Materials 2014, 26, 6994-7008.

T.L. Spencer, N.W. Plagos, D.H. Brouwer, G.R. Goward. The use of 6Li{7Li} REDOR NMR spectroscopy to compare the ionic conductivities of solid-state lithium ion electrolytes. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 2014, 16, 2515-2526.

D.H. Brouwer, S. Cadars, J. Eckert, Z. Liu, O. Terasaki, B.F. Chmelka. A general protocol for determining the structures of molecularly ordered but non-crystalline silicate frameworks. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2013, 135, 5641–5655.

D.H. Brouwer. Structure solution of network materials by solid-state NMR without knowledge of the crystallographic space group. Solid State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance 2013, 51, 37-45.

Professional Memberships and Associations

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