Professor/Chair

Specialty

Organic Chemistry

Education

B.S. Chemistry - Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo -1985
Ph.D. Organic Chemistry -University of California, Berkeley - 1992

Office: Faculty Offices East (Bldg. 25) - 125C

Phone: (805) 756-5658

E-Mail: nvandraa@calpoly.edu

Research Interests

• Synthetic Organic and Medicinal Chemistry; Pedagogical Methods in Organic Chemistry
• Synthetic methodology directed at asymmetric pyrrolidine formation through cyclization of chiral ene-amines.  
• Preparation of allicin analogues and their interaction with NO, and their roles in blood pressure regulation and migraine.  
• Lipophilic acetates as transdermal cyclooxygenase inhibitors as anti-inflammatory agents for burn treatment.
• Development of novel labs for organic chemistry, with a focus on asymmetric and green syntheses.  
• "Barrel of Oil" approach to Chem 312, Survey of Organic Chemistry.