About

Charles Frazier is a plant-polymer scientist specializing in polymers found in natural materials such as wood, grasses, wheat, soybeans, and nutshells. His current research emphasizes lignin chemistry and the manipulation of lignin reactions during biomass processing, including the development of lignin-based thermosetting resins. As the Thomas M. Brooks Professor of Sustainable Biomaterials and the Director of the Wood-Based Composites Center, he leads a National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center where fundamental research is conducted to stimulate industrial innovation in wood-based composites and related chemical and adhesive industries. Dr. Frazier's academic background includes a B.S. from Virginia Tech, an M.S. from the University of Washington, and a Ph.D. from Virginia Tech. His research areas encompass lignocellulose chemistry, biomass rheology, composite materials, surface chemistry, and adhesion. His work involves collaboration with industry partners and training students in polymer science through the Macromolecules Innovation Institute, providing students with significant industry exposure. His research program focuses on understanding and manipulating natural polymers to develop sustainable materials and energy solutions.

Research topics

• Organic chemistry
• Chemistry
• Chemical engineering
• Polymer chemistry
• Composite material
• Combinatorial chemistry
• Materials science

Selected publications

• Overexpression of the Arabidopsis SHN3 transcription factor compromises the rust disease resistance of transgenic switchgrass plants

  Grass Research · 2023-01-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  Switchgrass can generate large amounts of renewable biomass and hence is one of the most promising bioenergy crops. Improving the quality of switchgrass lignocellulosic biomass will enable its utilization for biofuels. Arabidopsis SHINE family of transcription factor <italic>SHN2</italic> was previously identified as a master regulator of cell wall deposition in transgenic rice. However, it is unclear if the Arabidopsis <italic>SHN</italic> genes also have a similar biological function in switchgrass. Here, we generated transgenic switchgrass overexpressing the <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> <italic>SHN3</italic> transcription factor. Compared with the wild-type, <italic>AtSHN3</italic>-overexpressing switchgrass plants were stunted in their growth. There were no significant differences in terms of lignin and cellulose contents between the SHN transgenics and wild-type switchgrass plants. However, two <italic>AtSHN3</italic> transgenic lines SHN7-2 and SHN5-2, displayed significant changes in several matrix polysaccharide monomers. Overexpression of <italic>AtSHN3</italic> in switchgrass did not alter the stem mechanical strength when subjected to tensile-torsion analysis. Interestingly, the <italic>AtSHN3</italic>-overexpressing transgenic lines were more susceptible to switchgrass rust (<italic>Puccinia emaculata</italic>) than wild-type plants. Therefore, AtSHN3 may have a negative role in regulating disease resistance in switchgrass.

  PublisherDOI

• Catalytic Acidolysis: Impact on In Situ Pine-Lignin Repolymerization

  ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering · 2023-07-13 · 6 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Biofuels research has substantially improved our understanding of lignin reactivity, and this knowledge has broader application potential in carbon-storing materials. The abundance and reactivity of β-aryl ether linkages underly lignin’s natural tendency to cleave and self-heal via repolymerization––this reaction might feasibly be manipulated to create novel advanced composite materials. To assess this potential, in situ lignin cleavage and repolymerization were promoted by heating water-saturated Pinus taeda wood, with and without acid catalyst. Evidence of in situ lignin cross-linking was detected in the corresponding isolated milled wood lignin; the respective molecular weights and glass-transition temperatures (Tg) increased in the catalytic order of no added catalyst, HCl, and H2SO4, as expected. In the corresponding whole tissue samples, oxidative thermogravimetric analysis detected in situ lignin cross-linking but with detection limitations at extreme cross-linking levels. Solvent submersion dynamic mechanical analysis of whole tissues revealed that all heating conditions caused a reduction in the wood Tg, even without catalyst, where the lignin reaction and sugar degradation were the lowest. These observations indicated that in situ lignin reactions occur readily and that some degree of catalytic control is possible, and lignin-specific reactions merit study toward new carbon-storage opportunities in lignocellulosic composite materials.

  PublisherDOI

• Waste product from wood finally used to make glue

  Nature · 2023-09-18 · 2 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Soybean hull pectin and nanocellulose: tack properties in aqueous pMDI dispersions

  Journal of Materials Science · 2022-02-01 · 11 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Oxidized hydroxypropyl cellulose/carboxymethyl chitosan hydrogels permit pH-responsive, targeted drug release

  Carbohydrate Polymers · 2022 · 115 citations

  • Chemistry
  • Polymer chemistry
  • Combinatorial chemistry
  PublisherDOI

• In situ forming hydrogels based on oxidized hydroxypropyl cellulose and Jeffamines

  Cellulose · 2021-10-27 · 8 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Using auxiliary adherends to eliminate need for grain control in fracture testing of adhesively bonded wood

  International Journal of Adhesion and Adhesives · 2021-05-31 · 2 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Photo-curable, double-crosslinked, in situ-forming hydrogels based on oxidized hydroxypropyl cellulose

  Cellulose · 2021-03-06 · 27 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• The effect of residual lignin on the rheological properties of cellulose nanofibril suspensions

  Journal of Wood Chemistry and Technology · 2020 · 52 citations

  • Chemistry
  • Chemical engineering
  • Composite material

  Although the removal of lignin and hemicelluloses from cellulose pulp to produce fully bleached cellulose nanofibrils (B-CNF) is the most common practice, the presence of residual lignin and hemicelluloses in raw materials for the production of lignin containing cellulose nanofibrils (LCNFs) holds several advantages. In this work, we investigated the effect of residual lignin in Eucalyptus globulus cellulose fibers on the properties of the resulting LCNFs. The stability of the colloidal suspensions was assessed by zeta-potential values and charge density analyses. Morphology of the CNFs was studied using scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Fibril diameter and diameter distributions for CNFs with different levels of residual lignin showed a decrease on fiber diameter as the lignin content increases. Differences in the chemical composition of the CNFs was evidenced as indicated in the Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy spectra, particularly in fingerprint region. Thermal behavior of the CNFs was not altered by the presence of lignin, as indicated by thermogravimetric analysis. Finally, the rheological behavior of the samples was evaluated observing a gel-like behavior as well as an increase of the viscosity in LCNFs with higher lignin contents.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Formaldehyde from Lignin Acidolysis Might Be Useful for In-Line Control of Industrial Biomass Processing

  ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering · 2020-12-24 · 13 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Wood processing typically involves heating that generates lignin-borne formaldehyde, a well-known aspect of lignin acidolysis that played an important role in early efforts to elucidate lignin structure. Previously, we found that lignin-borne formaldehyde accounts for a small percentage of lignin acidolysis. This is explained by two competing lignin acidolysis pathways, C2 cleavage producing formaldehyde, and C3 cleavage (no formaldehyde). Here, the topic was studied with industrial-scale thermomechanical refining of Douglas fir wood, seeking correlations between refining energy and fiber chemistry and rheology. Refining caused substantial polysaccharide degradation accompanied by lignin acidolysis, the latter determined by nitrobenzene oxidation, titration of free phenols, and determination of formaldehyde captured in dried fiber. Formaldehyde generation (C2 cleavage) accounted for only 1% of the total loss of β-aryl ethers (C2 + C3 cleavage). This could imply that lignin-borne formaldehyde always results from lignocellulose thermal processing, raising possibilities for industrial process control using in-line formaldehyde monitoring. That requires future verification and correlation of formaldehyde generation with biomass properties. In this case, measured formaldehyde levels correlated with refining energy, reductions in the in situ lignin glass transition temperature, and reductions in lignin oxidative decomposition temperature.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• I/UCRC CGI: Collaborative Research: Wood-Based Composites Center

  NSF · $823k · 2010–2016

• Phase II I/UCRC Virginia Polytechnic Institute: Center for Wood-Based Composites (WBC)

  NSF · $528k · 2016–2022

Frequent coauthors

• Blake A. Simmons

  12 shared

• Noppadon Sathitsuksanoh

  University of Louisville

  11 shared

• Guigui Wan

  7 shared

• Scott Renneckar

  University of British Columbia

  6 shared

• Wolfgang G. Glasser

  6 shared

• David Dillard

  Virginia Tech

  5 shared

• Robert Schmidt

  5 shared

• Francisco López-Suevos

  Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology

  5 shared

Labs

• Sustainable BiomaterialsPI

Education

• Ph.D., Sustainable Biomaterials

  Virginia Tech

  1992

• M.S., Forest Resource Science

  University of Washington

  1987

• BS, Wood Science

  Virginia Tech

  1985