UCSD | Department of Chemistry&Biochemistry -- Faculty & Research

William Trogler
Inorganic chemistry: polymer chemistry; nanotechnology applied to drug delivery and biological sensing

Contact Information

Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Moores Cancer Center Investigator

Academic Participant Calit2

Affiliated Faculty Member Nanoengineering, Jacobs School of Engineering

Office: PACH 4100C/D

Phone: (858) 534-6175

Fax: (858) 534-5383

Email: wtrogler@ucsd.edu

Group Website: http://chem-faculty.ucsd.edu/trogler/

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Education and Appointments
1977	Ph.D., California Institute of Technology
1974	B.A., Johns Hopkins
1974	M.A., Johns Hopkins

Awards and Academic Honors
1988	Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
1983-1986	Alfred P. Sloan Fellow

Research Interests
My research focuses on new inorganic materials for chemical, biological and environmental sensing. One project focuses on the synthesis of new photoluminescent and electroluminescent silole and silafluorene trimers (Figure 1) and conjugated polymers. These materials are being applied to detecting high explosives by luminescence quenching methods. By varying both structural and electronic properties of metallole polymers, it is possible to obtain reliable detection of trace particles of explosives, which have applications in forensics (Figure 2) and homeland security. Some of this research is being commercialized by license through the university to RedXDefense (www.redxdefense.com). There is a need for the development of inexpensive portable electronic devices for the specific detection of toxic chemicals, such as terrorist nerve agents, as well as for monitoring gaseous pollutants. In current collaborative research with professors Kummel (Chemistry) and Schuller (Physics as part of the Integrated Nanosensors Laboratory at UCSD, we are exploring physical vapor deposition of discrete transition metal complexes to construct resistive, capacitive, and chemical field effect transistors that function as chemical sensors (see http://nanosensors.ucsd.edu). This research involves the synthesis of robust metal complexes that can be vapor deposited as nanoscale films across electrodes for resistive sensing or sensing in a chemFET configuration. Such chemoresponsive electronic devices have potential application as inexpensive manufacturable chemosensors and we have recently shown that surface metal coordination of the ligand controls sensor response. A new effort in nanomedicine has been initiated through collaboration with investigators in the Moores Cancer Center in the UCSD Medical School and the Jacobs School of Engineering. The focus is on preparing surface linking agents for the fabrication of lithographically patterned arrays that can bind cancer cells for fluorescent imaging. In addition, we are exploring template approaches for preparing uniform hollow silica and titania nanospheres in the 40-500 nm range (Figure 3) for drug and gene delivery, as well as for internal nanosensors for cellular processes.
Primary Research Area:	Interdisciplinary Specialties:
Inorganic Chemistry	Materials Cellular Biochemistry
Image Gallery:

Figure 1: X-ray structure of trimeric chain of tetraphenyl(silole)s bridged through silicon with vinylene groups.	Figure 2: Image under UV illumination of fluorescence quenching of a thin film of a polysilole by successive generations of trace TNT fingerprints on Whatman® filter paper. From S. J. Toal; J. C. Sanchez, R. E. Dugan, W. C. Trogler, J. Forensic Sci.,2007,52, 79-83

Figure 3: Uniform hollow silica nanospheres prepared by a templated sol-gel reaction on a polymer substrate, which was removed by calcination. The scale bar is 100 nm long.

Selected Publications

Bohrer FI, Sharoni A, Colesniuc C, Park J, Schuller IK, Kummel AC, Trogler WC, "Gas sensing mechanism in chemiresistive cobalt and metal-free phthalocyanine thin films." J Am Chem Soc 17(5640-6): , 2007. [Go to PubMed]

Yang RD, Gredig T, Colesniuc CN, Schuller IK, Park J, Trogler WC, Kummel AC, "Ultrathinoorganic Transistors for Chemical Sensing," Appl. Phys. Lett, 2007,90, 263506/1-3.

Sanchez JC, DiPasquale AD, Rheingold, AL, Trogler WC,"Correlation of the Electronic Structures of High Explosives with Their Detection by Fluorescence Quenching," Chem. Mater., 2007, 19, 6459-6470.

Sanchez JC, Urbas SA, Toal SJ, DiPasquale AG, Rheingold AL,Trogler,WC, "Catalytic Hydrosilylation Routes to Divinylbenzene Bridged Silole and Silafluorene Polymers. Applications to Surface Imaging of Explosive Particulates," Macromolecules, 2008, 41, 1237 - 1245.

Bohrer FI, Colesniuc CN, Park J, Schuller IK, Kummel AC, Trogler WC, "Selective Detection of Vapor Phase Hydrogen Peroxide with Phthalocyanine Chemiresistors," J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 2008, 130, 3712 - 3713.

Yang J, Lind JU, Trogler WC, "Synthesis of Hollow Silica and Titania Nanospheres," Chem. Mater., 2008, 20, 2875-2877.

Sanchez JC,Trogler, WC,"Efficient blue-emitting silafluorene/fluorene-conjugated copolymers: selective turn-off/turn-on detection of explosives,"J. Mater. Chem., 2008, 18, 3143-3156.

Sanchez JC, Trogler WC,"Hydrosilylation of Diynes as a Route to Functional Polymers Delocalized Through Silicon," Macromol. Chem. Phys.,2008, 209, 1527-1540.

Sanchez JC, Trogler WC,"Polymerization of a boronate-functionalized fluorophore by double transesterification: applications to fluorescence detection of hydrogen peroxide vapor," J. Mater. Chem., 2008, 18, 5134-5141

Bohrer FI, Colesniuc CN, Park J, Ruidiaz ME, Schuller IK, Kummel AC, Trogler WC, "Comparative gas sensing in cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc, and metal-free phthalocyanine chemiresistors." J Am Chem Soc 2(478-85): , 2009. [Go to PubMed]