Contact Information

• hholt@unca.edu
• 251-6390
• 102A Phillips Hall

Bio

Dr. Herman Holt, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, currently serves as the Interim Provost at UNC Asheville. Prior to that, he was dean for 5 years in roles as Dean of Natural Sciences and Dean of Special and Graduate Programs. During that time, he worked in Academic Research at the UNC System Office in 2019-2020. Dr. Holt has held various leadership roles as a faculty member, including Chair of the Chemistry Department and co-director of Undergraduate Research. He also served as the Faculty Athletics Representative for 8 years. Dr. Holt’s academic career focus is organic chemistry and they won a Natural Sciences teaching award as a tenured faculty member. His research in chemistry focused on small-molecule organic synthesis and engaged numerous students in his research efforts.

Courses Taught

• CHEM 132 General Chemistry
• CHEM 231 Organic Chemistry I
• CHEM 232 Organic Chemistry II
• CHEM 434 Mechanistic Organic Chemistry Mechanisms

Education

• Ph.D., University of Cincinnati
• M.S., Furman University
• B.A., Kenyon College

About me

Dean of Natural Sciences and Professor, Department of Chemistry

Teaching interests

Organic Reactions and Mechanisms, Bioorganic Chemistry

Research Interests

Organic Synthesis, Bioorganic Chemistry, Organometallic Chemistry

Selected Publications

(undergraduates underlined)

• “Visiting Faculty Mentor as a Component of an NSF-REU Program",  Collins, S.N.; Holt, H.L. Jr.; Harkless, J.A; Gudmundsdottir, A.D.; Ault, B.S., J. Chem. Ed. 2009, 86, 565.
• “Design, Synthesis, and Biological Testing of Pyrazoline Derivatives of Combretastatin-A4” Marlie Johnson, Brent Younglove, Lauren Lee, Regan LeBlanc, Herman Holt Jr., Patrice Hills, Hilary Mackay, Toni Brown, Susan L. Mooberry and Moses Lee Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters 2007, 17, 5897-5901.
• “Design, synthesis and biological testing of cyclohexenone derivatives of combretastatin-A4”  Jennifer Ruprich, Andrew Prout, John Dickson, Brent Younglove, Lawrence Nolan, Kyati Baxi, Regan LeBlanc,  Lori Forrest, Patrice Hills,  Herman Holt, Jr., Hilary Mackay, Toni Brown, Susan L. Mooberry, and Moses Lee Letters in Drug Design & Discovery 2007, 4, 144-148.
• “ Synthesis and Cytotoxic Properties of Chalcones:  An Interactive and Investigative Undergraduate Laboratory Project at the Interface of Chemistry and Biology” Dickson, J.; Flores, L.; Stewart, M.; Holt, H.; LeBlanc, R.; Lee, M. J. Chem. Ed., 2006, 83, 934-936.
• “The application of vinylogous iminium salt derivatives to an efficient synthesis of the pyrrole containing alkaloids Rigidin and Rigidin E”  John T. Gupton, Edith J. Banner, Austin B. Scharf, Bradley K. Norwood, Rene P. F. Kanters, Raymond N. Dominey, Jonathan E. Hempel, Anastasia Kharlamova, Itta Bluhn-Chertudi, Charles R. Hickenboth, Barrett A. Little, Melissa D. Sartin, Matthew B. Coppock, Keith E. Krumpe, Bruce S. Burnham, Herman Holt, Karen X. Du, Kartik M. Keertikar, Anthony Diebes, Shahnaz Ghassemi and James A. Sikorski Tetrahedron 2006, 62, 8243-8255.
• “Synthesis of Biologically Active Heterocyclic Stilbene and Chalcone Analogs of Combretastatin” Toni Brown, Herman L. Holt, Jr., and Moses Lee, in Topics in Heterocyclic Chemistry, 2006, 2, 1-51. Springer, Heidelberg Germany.
•  “ Synthesis and Cytotoxic Properties of Chalcones:  An Interactive and Investigative Undergraduate Laboratory Project at the Interface of Chemistry and Biology” Dickson, J.; Flores, L.; Stewart, M.; Holt, H.; LeBlanc, R.; Lee, M. J. Chem. Ed., 2006, 83, 934-936.
• “Reaction of Chalcones with Basic Hydrogen Peroxide: A Structure and Reactivity Study” Herman L. Holt, Jr. Regan LeBlanc, John Dickson, Toni Brown, Jessica R. Maddox,
• Moses Lee Heterocyclic Communications 2005, 6, 465-470.
•  “Synthesis and Cytotoxicity of Epoxide and Pyrazole Analogs of the Combretastatins” Regan LeBlanc, John Dickson, Toni Brown, Michelle Stewart, Hari N. Pati, Don VanDerveer, Hadi Arman, Jeff Harris, William Pennington, Herman L. Holt, Jr., and Moses Lee Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry 2005, 13, 6025-6034.
• “Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of cis-Combretastatin Analogs and their Novel 1,2,3-Triazole Derivatives”  Hari Pati, Martha Wicks, Herman L. Holt, Jr., Regan LeBlanc, Paul Weisbruch, Lori Forrest, Moses Lee Heterocyclic Communications 2005, 11(2),  117-120.
• “Synthesis and Cytotoxic Properties of Nitro- and Aminochalcones” Hari Pati, Herman L. Holt, Jr., Regan LeBlanc, John Dickson, Michelle Stewart, Toni Brown, Moses Lee Med. Chem. Res. 2005, 14, 19-25.
• “The Ring Expansion of a Dimethyl-Substituted Vinylcyclobutene Derivative by Metal Complexes Which Can Undergo an Inner Sphere Electron Transfer”; Herman L. Holt Jr., Tom Russo, and Allan Pinhas. J. Organomet. Chem. 2000, 601, 147-152.