Education: B.A. Dordt College, 1968; Ph. D. Iowa State University , 1971.
Thesis: "Cyclic Unsaturated Semidiones and Ketyls"
Thesis Advisor: Professor Glen A. Russell
Professional History:
- Assistant Professor of Chemistry, University of
Wisconsin-Oshkosh,
l971-73
- Assistant/Associate Professor of Chemistry, Wake Forest University,
1973-77
- Professor of Chemistry, Calvin College, l977-present
- Visiting Professor of Chemistry, University of Michigan, 1980, l982
- Visiting Professor of Chemistry, University of Minnesota, 1983-84
- Visiting Professor of Chemistry, University of Colorado, l988
- Research Associate, Centre Nationale de la Recherche, Aubiere, France,
1991-92
- Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Calvin College,
1992-95, 2003-present
- Visiting Professor of Chemistry, University of Paris, 2000
- Research Associate, Centre Nationale de la Recherche, University of
Paris, 2001
Courses Taught 2004-5; Organic Chemistry (261-262)
Courses:
- Chem 261: Organic Chemistry I (Fall)
- Chem 262: Organic Chemistry II (Fall)
Research Interests:
One of our research goals is the synthesis of aldehydes that
cannot be prepared in high purity using existing literature methods. Using a
photochemical method that we discovered in our laboratory, we hope to generate
a family of compounds called 3-alkynals that are free of their 2,3-dienal
isomers. It is also our intent to show that these unsaturated aldehydes can
be used to synthesize other substances.
Another research goal in our laboratory is to identify a multi-step synthesis
of an organic compound that employs the Suzuki reaction in one of its steps.
Although this reaction is used widely in industry and academia to synthesize a
variety of important compounds, it is absent in current textbooks that describe
experiments that can be carried out in the undergraduate laboratory. If we
achieve this goal, we hope to publish this work in the Journal of Chemical
Education. |
