David Tyler has been named the first recipient of the Charles J. and M. Monteith Jacobs Professorship in Chemistry.
Appointment to an endowed professorship recognizes outstanding contributions to a research discipline and teaching. Candidates are expected to have achieved a level of national and international recognition.
Tyler, a member of the Materials Science Institute, is widely recognized as a dedicated teacher and mentor, and has a long history of productive research. His CV lists 174 papers in print, and several articles accepted or submitted for publication. Tyler’s general research area is inorganic and organometallic chemistry.
Organometallic chemistry
Tyler has made many seminal contributions in this area, some of which now appear in textbooks. In his early work in organometallic radical chemistry, Tyler showed that there are exceptions to the 18-electron rule, a rule of thumb used primarily for characterizing and predicting the stability of metal complexes. Tyler demonstrated the existence of 19 electron complexes, which broke new ground and provided insights regarding radical reactions.
Radical cage effects
Tyler and his students have examined radical cage effects in solution. The cage effect in chemistry refers to how properties of a molecule are affected by its surroundings. In solution, a molecule is often described as existing in a cage of solvent molecules. Tyler has made fundamental contributions to the understanding of cage effects and he applied this knowledge to a practical application, the degradation of plastics.
Green Chemistry
Tyler is also involved in green chemistry, the concept of the environmentally friendly design of chemical products and processes. One way of reducing the use of hazardous organic solvents is to carry out reactions in water. Tyler is doing just that. He goes one step further, to understand the involvement of water in the reactions. Tyler is synthesizing new water-soluble catalysts to replace some of the catalysts used in organic solvents.
He is also tackling the challenging and important field of “nitrogen fixation”: the reduction of N2, dinitrogen, the form of nitrogen in air, to ammonia, NH3. Ammonia is a main component of fertilizers required to feed the world and produce other products. The current industrial method of reducing N2 to NH3 requires high temperatures and pressures. Tyler has reported the first room temperature reduction of N2 to NH3. It is not yet an industrial process, but it is an important step in that direction. A breakthrough in this field would mean more food for the world’s hungry and less energy used, and therefore a reduction in greenhouse gases which contribute to global warming.
Professor Tyler and his colleagues are tackling another interesting problem in green chemistry with practical applications in society. He is carrying out fundamental studies that could lead to environmentally friendly polymers, which after use would be degradable by sunlight. For this work he is designing organic polymers that contain metal-metal bonds, for example two molybdenum atoms bonded together in an organic complex to form a photodegradable polyurethane. The mechanism of how such complexes react with light is of fundamental interest, and if the onset of photodegradation can be controlled, these polymers could find industrial uses and help to protect the environment.
The Charles J. and M. Monteith Jacobs Professorship in Chemistry is a newly created endowed professorship. It was made possible by two generous gifts from the late Charles J. Jacobs, and was named for both himself and his brother.
Tyler, a member of the Materials Science Institute, is widely recognized as a dedicated teacher and mentor, and has a long history of productive research. His CV lists 174 papers in print, and several articles accepted or submitted for publication. Tyler’s general research area is inorganic and organometallic chemistry.
Organometallic chemistry
Tyler has made many seminal contributions in this area, some of which now appear in textbooks. In his early work in organometallic radical chemistry, Tyler showed that there are exceptions to the 18-electron rule, a rule of thumb used primarily for characterizing and predicting the stability of metal complexes. Tyler demonstrated the existence of 19 electron complexes, which broke new ground and provided insights regarding radical reactions.
Radical cage effects
Tyler and his students have examined radical cage effects in solution. The cage effect in chemistry refers to how properties of a molecule are affected by its surroundings. In solution, a molecule is often described as existing in a cage of solvent molecules. Tyler has made fundamental contributions to the understanding of cage effects and he applied this knowledge to a practical application, the degradation of plastics.
Green Chemistry
Tyler is also involved in green chemistry, the concept of the environmentally friendly design of chemical products and processes. One way of reducing the use of hazardous organic solvents is to carry out reactions in water. Tyler is doing just that. He goes one step further, to understand the involvement of water in the reactions. Tyler is synthesizing new water-soluble catalysts to replace some of the catalysts used in organic solvents.
He is also tackling the challenging and important field of “nitrogen fixation”: the reduction of N2, dinitrogen, the form of nitrogen in air, to ammonia, NH3. Ammonia is a main component of fertilizers required to feed the world and produce other products. The current industrial method of reducing N2 to NH3 requires high temperatures and pressures. Tyler has reported the first room temperature reduction of N2 to NH3. It is not yet an industrial process, but it is an important step in that direction. A breakthrough in this field would mean more food for the world’s hungry and less energy used, and therefore a reduction in greenhouse gases which contribute to global warming.
Professor Tyler and his colleagues are tackling another interesting problem in green chemistry with practical applications in society. He is carrying out fundamental studies that could lead to environmentally friendly polymers, which after use would be degradable by sunlight. For this work he is designing organic polymers that contain metal-metal bonds, for example two molybdenum atoms bonded together in an organic complex to form a photodegradable polyurethane. The mechanism of how such complexes react with light is of fundamental interest, and if the onset of photodegradation can be controlled, these polymers could find industrial uses and help to protect the environment.
The Charles J. and M. Monteith Jacobs Professorship in Chemistry is a newly created endowed professorship. It was made possible by two generous gifts from the late Charles J. Jacobs, and was named for both himself and his brother.