Nicholas A Brunelli Catalytic Material Design Group

Our research focuses on creating atomically precise catalysts to enable selective and sustainable catalytic processes. We investigate industrially important reactions through synthesizing heterogeneous catalytic materials such as zeolites and mesoporous materials. Heterogeneous catalytic materials can be powerful, but the materials often contain multiple different types of sites that each have a distinct activity and/or selectivity. The distribution of sites reduces the overall selectivity, reducing process sustainability. We focus on creating synthetic methods that produce uniform catalytic sites. With uniform sites, we can connect the site structure and activity through using advance spectroscopic tools and catalytic testing. Importantly, we investigate how to make these highly active and selective catalysts using scalable synthetic methods so that we can translate our discoveries into commercial processes. Through combining synthesis, spectroscopy, and catalytic testing, we can create uniform, sustainable heterogeneous catalytic materials.

Education

PhD 2010, California Institute of Technology, NSF Graduate Research Fellow
BS 2004, The Ohio State University, National Merit Scholar

Postdoctoral Training

2013, Emory University, Postdoctoral Fellow
2010-13, Georgia Institute of Technology, Postdoctoral Fellow

Brunelli’s passion for catalytic material design started in the basement of Caltech when he learned the basics of organometallic materials synthesis. The precision synthesis opened his eyes to the world of material design. Material design is critical since heterogeneous catalytic materials tend to have multiple types of sites with each being active. With creating precisely synthesized materials, we can unlock the potential of catalytic materials to enable sustainable processes for converting biomass, carbon dioxide, and wastes into valuable chemicals and fuels.

Brunelli was named the Ervin G. Bailey Endowed Chair in Energy Conversion in the fall of 2023 after being named the H.C. "Slip" Slider Professor in the fall of 2018.

National Honors for Research

ACS Energy & Fuels:

2021 Emerging Investigator

RSC Molecular Systems Design and Engineering:

2020 Influential Researcher Award

AIChE Futures as recognized by AIChE Journal:

2019 AIChE Futures

Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC):

Emerging Investigator, 2019

Organic Reaction Catalysis Society (ORCS):

2019 Robert Augustine Award

RSC Reaction Chemistry & Engineering:

2019 Emerging Investigator

American Chemical Society:

2018 Class of Influential Researchers

National Science Foundation:

NSF CAREER Award, 2017
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, 2004-07

National Merit Scholar:

2000

Key Distinctions

Ervin G. Bailey Endowed Chair
H.C. "Slip" Slider Professorship

Industry

Dow Outstanding Junior Award in Chemical Engineering, 2003

University Honors

The Ohio State University:

Excellence in Safety Award, Laboratory Research Group, University Laboratory Safety Committee, 2022
Inaugural Cohort for the Growing Research Opportunities Academy (GRO), The Ohio State University Office of Research, 2021

The Ohio State University College of Engineering:

David C. McCarthy Engineering Teaching Award, The Ohio State University, College of Engineering, 2024
Charles Ellison MacQuigg Award for Outstanding Teaching, The Ohio State University Engineer's Council, 2024
Lumley Research Award, 2019

William G. Lowrie Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering:

Ervin G. Bailey Endowed Chair, 2023-present
H.C. "Slip" Slider Professor, 2018-2023
Outstanding Laboratory Safety Award - Traditional, ChyComm, The Ohio State University Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, 2023
Outstanding Senior Chemical Engineering Alumni Award, 2002
AIChE Donald F. Othmer Sophomore Award in Chemical Engineering, 2001

Chronological Listing:

2024 David C. McCarthy Engineering Teaching Award, The Ohio State University, College of Engineering
2024 Charles Ellison MacQuigg Award for Outstanding Teaching, The Ohio State University Engineer's Council
2023 Ervin G. Bailey Endowed Chair in Energy Conversion
2023 Outstanding Laboratory Safety Award - Traditional, ChyComm, The Ohio State University Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
2022 Excellence in Safety Award, Laboratory Research Group, University Laboratory Safety Committee
2021 Inaugural Cohort for the Growing Research Opportunities Academy (GRO), The Ohio State University Office of Research
2021 Emerging Investigator, ACS Energy & Fuels
2020 Influential Researcher Award, RSC Molecular Systems Design and Engineering
2019 AIChE Futures, AIChE Journal
2019 Robert Augustine Award, Organic Reaction Catalysis Society (ORCS)
2019 Emerging Investigator, RSC Reaction Chemistry & Engineering
2019 College of Engineering Lumley Research Award
2018 Class of Influential Researchers, American Chemical Society Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research
Appointed to the H.C. Slip Slider Professorship, Fall 2018
2017 NSF CAREER Award
2004-2007 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
2004 Outstanding Senior Chemical Engineering Alumni Award
2002 Dow Outstanding Junior Award in Chemical Engineering
2001 AIChE Donald F. Othmer Sophomore Award in Chemical Engineering
2000 National Merit Scholar

Brunelli, Nick

Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

The Ervin G. Bailey Chair in Energy Conversion, College of Engineering

Directory Categories

Faculty

-Reaction Engineering, Catalysis

(614) 688-3400

brunelli.2@osu.edu

Heterogeneous catalytic materials are fascinatingly complex materials that have the potential to enable sustainable chemical processes, including upgrading biomass into commodity chemicals and producing fine chemicals such as pharmaceuticals. These catalysts are high surface area supports on which catalytic sites are dispersed. Whereas the ideal would be that each site is active and selective, heterogeneous catalytic materials have a distribution of sites that we need to develop tools to discover.

We view our work as catalytic detectives. We use different tools to gather evidence about the nature of highly active and selective catalytic sites. Our toolbox includes organic and inorganic synthetic methods, characterization using advanced techniques including lab-scale X-ray Absorption Spectrometer (XAS) and world-class NMR, and catalytic testing and site titration. Through detailed study, we are able to reveal which sites are active and selective.

Our work spans a range of materials, reactions, and synthetic methods. This includes:

Dr. Brunelli with alumni in the lab wearing lab coats

Doctoral Students (Ph.D.)

Jee-Yee Chen

Degree: 2023 Ph.D.
Dissertation title: Synthesis Structure Relationships in Amine Functionalized Mesoporous Silica Supports for Catalytic Performance Investigation
Career: Post-doc student with a Full-time position at Intel Corporation starting 2024

Alexander P. Spanos

Degree: 2022 Ph.D.
Dissertation title: Connecting Synthesis-Structure Relationships in Zeolites to Establish High Performance Catalytic Materials
Career: Full-time employee of Oakwood Chemical

Ashwin Kane

Degree: 2022 Ph.D.
Dissertation title: Design of Catalytic Materials for Improving Performance for Fine Chemical Applications
Career: Full-time employee of Intel Corporation

Pinaki Ranadive

Degree: 2021 Ph.D.
Dissertation title: Scalable Continuous Synthesis of Metal and Metal-oxide based Nanomaterials through Jet-mixing
Career: Full-time employee of Regeneron

Mariah Whitaker

Degree: 2019 Ph.D.
Dissertation title: Design of Heterogeneous Catalysts Incorporating Solvent-Like Surface Functionality for Sustainable Chemical Production
Career: Full-time employee of Owens Corning

Aamena Parulkar

Degree: 2018 Ph.D.
Dissertation title: Developing Synthesis and Characterization Methods for Enhancing Material Performance
Career: Full-time employee of Intel Corporation

Nitish Deshpande

Degree: 2018 Ph.D.
Dissertation title: Catalytic Material Design: Design Factors Affecting Catalyst Performance for Biomass and Fine Chemical Applications
Career: Full-time employee of Intel Corporation
Notable achievements:
- Recipient of AIChE CRE travel award (only 10 doctoral students per year receive this award)
- Critical talent retention award at Intel Corporation

Masters Students (MS)

Mike Brizes

Degree: 2022 Masters
Career activities: Full-time employee of Teledyne

Joseph Kolb

Degree: 2021 Masters
Dissertation title: Nanosheet Sn-MFI for the Efficient Ring Opening of Bulky Epoxides
Career activities: Full-time employee of U.S. Coast Guard

Medha Kasula

Degree: 2020 Masters
Dissertation title: Synthesis and catalytic testing of Sn-MFI zeolite crystallized using different tin precursors
Career activities: Continued graduate education at University of Alabama

Rutuja Joshi

Degree: 2017 Masters
Dissertation title: Synthesis and Catalytic Testing of Lewis Acidic Nano-MFI Zeolites to Overcome Diffusion Limitations
Career activities: Full-time employee of Intel Corporation

Undergraduate Students

Nic Raffaele
Khalil Tran
Rawad Ahmad
Justin Hopkins
Alex Crecelius
Richard Szczepaniak
William Baumgart
William Abrahms
Alex Harrison
Jay Mota
Shuwei Lu
Matt Galliger
Nora Shaheen
Michael Hines
Emily Makowski
AJ Wahlstrom
Kyle Gersman
Nate Olson
Adrianna Schneider
Michael Stenta
Lagnajit "Lucky" Pattanaik
Kory Sherman
Brian Diep
Steven Back
Katie Ashley

2023

M. Brizes, J.-Y. Chen, H. Pineault, N.A. Brunelli,* “Evaluating the per site activity of common mesoporous materials as supports for aminosilica catalysts for the aldol reaction and condensation,” Applied Catalysis A: General., 2023, 650, 118997.

2022

J.-Y. Chen, H. Pineault N.A. Brunelli,* “Quantifying the fraction and activity of different types of catalytic sites at different surface densities of aminosilanes in SBA-15 for the aldol reaction and condensation,” J. Catalysis, 2022, 413, 1048-1055.

N. Deshpande, J.-Y. Chen, E.H. Cho, T. Kobayashi, L.-C. Lin, H. Pineault, N.A. Brunelli,* “Tuning micropore volume of SBA-15 to enhance catalytic activity,” J. Catalysis (accepted).

M. Kasula, A.P. Spanos, N.A. Brunelli,* “Investigating the impact of synthesis conditions to increase yield and tin inclusion for Lewis acid nano-Sn-MFI zeolites,” Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 61, 5, 1977-1984.

2021

J.-Y. Chen, N.A. Brunelli,* “Investigating the impact of microporosity of aminosilica catalysts in coupling reactions for biomass upgrading to fuel,” Energy & Fuels, 2021, 35, 18, 14885-14893.

P. Ranadive, Z. Blanchette, A. Spanos, W. Medlin, N.A. Brunelli,* “Scalable synthesis of selective hydrodeoxygenation core@shell Pd@TiO2 nanocatalysts,” J. Flow Chemistry, 2021, 11, 393-406.

A. Spanos, A. Parulkar, N.A. Brunelli,* “Enhancing hydrophobicity and catalytic activity of nano-Sn-Beta for alcohol ring opening of epoxides through post-synthetic treatment with fluoride,” J. Catalysis, 2021, 404, 430-439.

2020

M. Gray, M. Hines, M. Parsutkar, A.J. Wahlstrom, N.A. Brunelli,* T.V. RajanBabu,* “On the Mechanism of Cobalt-Catalyzed Heterodimerization of Acrylates and 1,3-Dienes. Reaction Progress Kinetic Analysis and A Potential Role of Cationic Cobalt(I) Intermediates” ACS Catalysis, 2020, 10 (7), 4337-4348.

M.R. Whitaker, A. Parulkar, N.A. Brunelli,* “Selective production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural from fructose in the presence of an acid-functionalized SBA-15 catalyst modified with a sulfoxide polymer,” Molecular Systems Design and Engineering, 2020, 5, 257-268.

2019

A. Kane, N. Deshpande, N.A. Brunelli,* “Impact of surface loading on catalytic activity of regular and low Micropore SBA-15 in the Knoevenagel Condensation,” AIChE Journal, 2019, 65 (12), e16791.

A. Parulkar, A.P. Spanos, N. Deshpande, N.A. Brunelli,* “Synthesis and catalytic testing of Lewisacidic nano zeolite Beta for epoxide ring opening with alcohols,” Applied Catalysis A: General, 2019, 577, 28-34.

N. Deshpande, E.H. Cho, A.P. Spanos, L.-C. Lin, N.A. Brunelli,* “Tuning Molecular Structure of Tertiary Amine Catalysts for Glucose Isomerization,” J. Catalysis, 2019, 372, 119-127.

P. Ranadive, A. Parulkar, N.A. Brunelli,* “Jet-Mixing Reactor for the Production of MonodisperseSilver Nanoparticles Using a Reduced Amount of Capping Agent,” Reaction Chemistry and Engineering, 2019, 4 (10), 1779-1789.

M.R. Whitaker, A. Parulkar, P. Ranadive, R. Joshi, N.A. Brunelli,* “Examining Acid FormationDuring the Selective Dehydration of Fructose to 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural in DMSO and Water,”ChemSusChem, 2019, 12 (10), 2211-2219.

N. Olson, N. Deshpande, S. Gunduz, U.S. Ozkan, N.A. Brunelli,* “Utilizing Imogolite Nanotubes asa Tunable Catalytic Material for the Selective Isomerization of Glucose to Fructose,” CatalysisToday, 2019, 323, 69-75.

N. Deshpande, A. Parulkar, R. Joshi, B. Diep, A. Kulkarni, N.A. Brunelli,* “Epoxide ring openingwith alcohols using heterogeneous Lewis acid catalysts: Mechanism and Regioselectivity,” J. Catalysis, 2019, 370, 46-54.

2018

A. Parulkar, R. Joshi, N. Deshpande, N.A. Brunelli,* “Synthesis and Catalytic Testing of LewisAcidic Nano-MFI Zeolites for the Epoxide Ring Opening Reaction with Alcohol,” Applied CatalysisA: General, 2018, 566, 25-32.

A. Parulkar, J.A. Thompson, M. Hurt, B.-Z. Zhan, N.A. Brunelli,* “Improving HydrodenitrogenationCatalyst Performance through Analyzing Hydrotreated Vacuum Gas Oil Using Ion Mobility-MassSpectrometry,” Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research 2018, 57 (27), 8845-8854.

2017

A. Parulkar, N.A. Brunelli,* “High-Yield Synthesis of ZIF-8 Nanoparticles Using StoichiometricReactants in a Jet-Mixing Reactor,” Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, 2017, 56 (37),10384-10392.

N. Deshpande, L. Pattanaik, M.R. Whitaker, C.-T. Yang, L.-C. Lin, N.A. Brunelli,* “SelectivelyConverting Glucose to Fructose Using Immobilized Tertiary Amines.” J. Catalysis, 2017, 353, 205-210.

2015

E.G. Moschetta, S. Negretti, K.M. Chepiga, N.A. Brunelli, Y. Labreche, Y. Feng, F. Rezaei, R.P.Lively, W.J. Koros, H.M.L. Davies,* and C.W. Jones.* "Composite Polymer/Oxide Hollow FiberContactors: Versatile and Scalable Flow Reactors for Heterogeneous Catalytic Reactions in OrganicSynthesis." Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2015, 54 (22), 6470-6474.

L. Espinal, M.L. Green, D.A. Fischer, D.M. DeLongchamp, C. Jaye, J.C. Horn, M.A. Sakwa-Novak,W. Chaikittisilp, N.A. Brunelli, C.W. Jones. “Interrogating the Carbon and Oxygen K-edgeNEXAFS of a CO2-dosed Hyperbranched Aminosilica.” Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 2015,6 (1), 148-152.

E.G. Moschetta, N.A. Brunelli, C.W. Jones. “Reaction-dependent heteroatom modification of acid-base catalytic cooperativity in aminosilica materials.” Applied Catalysis A: General 2015, 504 (5),429-439.

2014

A.J. Brown, N.A. Brunelli, K. Eum, F. Rashidi, J.R. Johnson, W.J. Koros, C.W. Jones, S. Nair.“Interfacial Microfluidic Processing of Metal-Organic Framework Hollow Fiber Membranes.”Science. 2014, 345 (6192), 72-75.

D.-Y. Kang, N.A. Brunelli, G.I. Yucelen, A. Venkatasubramanian, J. Zang, J. Leisen, P.J. Hesketh,C.W. Jones, S. Nair. “Direct Synthesis of Single-Walled Aluminosilicate Nanotubes with EnhancedMolecular Adsorption Selectivity.” Nature Communication 2014, 5, 1-9.

B.R. Pimental, A. Parulkar, E. Zhou, N.A. Brunelli,* R.P. Lively.* “Zeolite ImidazolateFrameworks: Next-Generation Materials for Energy-Efficient Gas Separations.” ChemSusChem2014, 7 (12), 3202- 3240.

S.A. Didas, R. Zhu, N.A. Brunelli, D.S. Sholl, C.W. Jones. “Thermal, Oxidative, and CO2 InducedDegradation of Primary Amines used for CO2 Capture: Effect of Alkyl Linker on Stability,” Journalof Physical Chemistry C. 2014, 118 (23), 12302-12311.

J.A. Thompson, J.T. Vaughn, N.A. Brunelli, W.J. Koros, C.W. Jones, S. Nair. "Mixed-linker zeoliticimidazolate framework mixed-matrix membranes for aggressive CO2 separation from natural gas,"Microporous and Mesoporous Materials. 2014, 192, 43-51.

H.J. Kim, N.A. Brunelli, A.J. Brown, K.S. Jang, W. Kim, F. Rashidi, J.R. Johnson, W.J. Koros, C.W.Jones, S. Nair. “Silylated Mesoporous Silica Membranes on Polymeric Hollow Fiber Supports:Synthesis and Permeation Properties,” ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces 2014, 6 (20), 17877-17886.

2013

N.A. Brunelli, C.W. Jones, (2013), “Tuning Acid-Base Cooperativity to Create Next GenerationSilica- Supported Organocatalysts.” J. Catalysis 308, 60-72.

N.A. Brunelli,* E.L. Neiholdt, K.P. Giapis, R.C. Flagan, J.L. Beauchamp, (2013) “Continuous FlowIon Mobility Separation with Mass Spectrometric Detection Using a Nano-Radial DifferentialMobility Analyzer at Low Flow Rates.” Analytical Chemistry (DOI: 10.1021/ac3032417).

W. Long, N.A. Brunelli, E.W. Ping, C.W. Jones. “A Single-Component Hybrid Pd Catalyst for theHighly-Selective Reduction of Alkynes to cis-Alkenes,” ACS Catalysis 2013, 3 (8), 1700-1708.

K.M. Chepiga, Y. Fan, N.A. Brunelli, C.W. Jones, H.M.L. Davies. “Silica-Immobilized ChiralDirhodium (II) Catalyst for Enantioselective Carbenoid Reactions,” Organic Letters 2013, 15 (24),6136-6139.

D.M. Holunga, N.A. Brunelli, R.C. Flagan. “A Tool for Uniform Coating of 300 mm Wafers with Nanoparticles,” Journal of Nanoparticle Research 2013, 15 (11), 1-10.

A. Varga, M. Pfohl, N.A. Brunelli, M. Schreier, K. Giapis, S. Haile. "Carbon nanotubes as electronicinterconnects in solid acid fuel cell electrodes," Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 2013, 15 (37), 15470-15476.

J.A. Thompson, N.A. Brunelli, R.P. Lively, J.R. Johnson, C.W. Jones, S. Nair. “Tunable CO2Adsorbents by Mixed-Linker Synthesis and Postsynthetic Modification of Zeolitic ImidazolateFrameworks.” Journal of Physical Chemistry C. 2013, 117 (16), 8198-8207.

2012

N.A. Brunelli, K. Venkatasubbaiah, C.W. Jones. “Cooperative Catalysis with Acid-Base BifunctionalMesoporous Silica: Impact of Grafting and Co-condensation Synthesis Methods on MaterialStructure and Catalytic Properties.” Chemistry of Materials 2012, 24 (13), 2433-2442.

N.A. Brunelli, K. Venkatasubbaiah, C.W. Jones. “Effect of Linker Length on the CooperativeInteractions of Supported Amines in Catalysis and CO2 Capture,” Journal of the American ChemicalSociety 2012, 134 (34), 13950-13953.

N.A. Brunelli, W. Long, K. Venkatasubbaiah, C.W. Jones. “Catalytic Regioselective Epoxide Ring Opening with Phenol using Homogeneous and Supported Analogues of Dimethylaminopyridine.”Topics in Catalysis 2012, 55 (7-10), 432-438.

Y. Kuwahara, D.-Y. Kang, J. Copeland, N.A. Brunelli, S.A. Didas, P. Bollini, C. Sievers, T.Kamegawa, H. Yamashita, C.W. Jones. “Dramatic Enhancement of CO2 Uptake by Poly(ethyleneimine) Using Zirconosilica Supports,” Journal of the American Chemical Society 2012,134 (26), 10757-10760.

J.A. Thompson, C.R. Blad, N.A. Brunelli, M.E. Lydon, R.P. Lively, C.W. Jones, S. Nair. “HybridZeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks: Controlling Framework Porosity and Functionality by Mixed-Linker Synthesis,” Chemistry of Materials 2012, 24 (10), 1930-1936.

P. Bollini, N.A. Brunelli, S.A. Didas, C.W. Jones. “Dynamics of CO2 Adsorption onto AmineAdsorbents. 1. Assessment of Heat Effects,” Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research 2012,51 (46), 15145- 15152.

P. Bollini, N.A. Brunelli, S.A. Didas, C.W. Jones. “Dynamics of CO2 Adsorption onto AmineAdsorbents. 2. Insights into Adsorbent Design,” Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research2012, 51 (46), 15153-15162.

2011

J. Jiang, M. Attoui, M. Heim, N.A. Brunelli, P. McMurry, G. Kasper, R.C. Flagan, K. Giapis, G.Mouret. “Transfer Functions and Penetrations of Five Differential Mobility Analyzers for Sub-2 nmParticle Classification.” Aerosol Science and Technology 2011, 45 (4), 480-492.

2010

A. Varga, N.A. Brunelli, M.W. Louie, K.P. Giapis, S.M. Haile. “Composite nanostructured solid-acidfuel- cell electrodes via electrospray deposition.” Journal of Materials Chemistry 2010, 20 (30),6309-6315.

2009

N.A. Brunelli, R.C. Flagan, K.P. Giapis. “Radial Differential Mobility Analyzer for One Nanometer Particle Classification.” Aerosol Science and Technology 2009, 43 (1), 53-59.